Genia de Galberg collection of Rwandan and Congolese paintings
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: NAA MS 414286

USNM Accession 280142
name: label: Collector
content: de Galberg, Genia, 1899-1967
place: label: Place
content: Rwanda
label: Place
content: Congo (Democatic Republic)
label: Place
content: Africa, Central
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The paintings were donated to the Smithsonian as part of a larger collection of African artifacts by Genia de Galberg in 1966 (USNM Accession 280142).  The paintings were transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in 1969.
creator: label: Collector
content: de Galberg, Genia, 1899-1967
culture: label: Culture
content: Tutsi (African people)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Genia de Galberg collection of Rwandan and Congolese paintings
bioghist: label: Biographical Note
content: Genia de Galberg, also known as Eugenia or Eugenie, (1899-1968) was a hotel operator and translator.  Born to German and Georgian parents in Ukraine, she was educated in Italy and France.  In the 1930s, she traveled to Butembo, in Eastern Congo to help in the operation of a hotel.  She went on to own and operate two hotels on Lake Kivu in Rwanda, as well as chrysanthemum and coffee plantations.  She was an avid collector of African art and decorative objects, many of which she used to decorate her hotels.  In 1960, she relocated to the United States, working as a Swahili interpreter for the United Nations in New York and later as a translator for the Rwandan Embassy in Washington, D.C.  De Galberg died in Washington in 1968.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 14 Paintings (visual works)
unitdate: label: Date
content: undated
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: National Anthropological Archives
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NAA.MS414286
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Paintings (visual works)
label: Type
content: Works of art
label: Type
content: Paintings
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The paintings in this collection were originally cataloged by the NAA in four separate lots: MS 414286, MS 414288, MS 414290, and "Four Figures Dancing with Spears" (No MS Number). In 2023, the collection was reprocessed and all paintings collected by de Galberg were incorporated into a single collection under MS 414286.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Works of art
label: Genre/Form
content: Paintings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection consists of fourteen (14) paintings collected by Genia de Galberg while living in Gisenyi, Rwanda. Eleven of the paintings are gouache watercolors on colored paper by Congolese artists. Three of the paintings are by European artists living in Rwanda.

Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: The Department of Anthropology object collections holds artifacts donated by Galberg in Accession 280142.