There are not many opportunities to see African art in Cleveland -- especially while the Cleveland Museum of Art is under renovation. Fortunately, there are some generous collectors with outstanding African collections in Cleveland. Art: Trilogy, Anonymity, and Eclecticism, 100 pieces of African Art and African American Art is an exhibition going on now through May 15th 2007 at the Cleveland Public Library, Main Library Building, 2nd Floor Exhibit Corridor, which taps into the collectors' and creators' spirits.

The "100 pieces" are displayed well in tall glass cases. Masks, jewelry, ritual objects, sculpture and painting are included. Mixing contemporary African American works, particularly large paintings, with African pieces, some hundreds of years old, creates some very interesting juxtapositions.

 Mr. Elmer Buford, a collector of African and Asian art, is the organizer of the exhibition. The library website also names the following Cleveland collectors as contributors to the exhibition: Dr. Norman and Ann Roulet, Anthony “T.W.” Watkins, James Burgan, Cynthia Dixon, LaToya Washington, and Billy Tubbs. Most items are labeled, though no more than the culture and date of each object is identified. The collector is not named on the label.

One of the pieces in the exhibition I find most remarkable is a small WPA ceramic sculpture of the opera singer Marian Anderson. Its small scale and the green glaze, so decorative and non-naturalistic, seems to suggest a continuity with the pieces made centuries earlier on another continent. Though the exhibition lacks detailed written information (in the form of a catalog or signage), perhaps the intention is to inspire visitors to check out books on African art and culture. And, for those who don't make the trip to the art section of the library, the exhibition is an outstanding aesthetic education.