Neuberger Museum of Art Acquires Hazoumè’s Abla-Meji

February 28, 2024 | Purchase, New York – Tracy Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art, announced today the Museum’s acquisition of Romuald Hazoumè’s Abla-Meji (1994), one of the internationally-acclaimed, Benin-based artist’s most intimate works.

Recently on view at the Neuberger as part of the Romuald Hazoumè: The Fȃ Series exhibition, Abla-Meji is an intriguing, large-scale, mixed-media work combining acrylic paint, natural pigments, and organic materials. The canvas references one of the sixteen principal signs of Fȃ, a centuries-old divination system originating among the Yorùbá-speaking communities in Nigeria.

Hazoumè refers to the Fȃ series as his cultural anchor and says that Abla-Meji, in particular, holds deep personal meaning because he defines himself as an Are, the Yoruba name for an itinerant artist whose goal is to pass on his knowledge during his travels. An individual born under Abla-Meji, the seventh mother-sign and one of eight male signs of Fȃ, will constantly journey from place to place, no matter their native land–a quality suggested in the work’s central undulating line.

The Neuberger exhibition and its accompanying catalogue represent the first extensive exploration of Hazoume’s study of Fȃ. The twenty-two canvases shown represent a stark contrast to the artist’s more well known installations such as La Bouche du Roi and his celebrated masques bidons made from discarded gasoline canisters.

“The acquisition of Abla-Meji is among the Neuberger Museum of Art’s most significant recent acquisitions,” stated Dr. Fitzpatrick. “We are so glad to be able to add this canvas by world renown artist Romuald Hazoumè to our collection of contemporary art.”

Abla-Meji was purchased from Hazoumè by the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art organization.

Romuald Hazoumè: The Fâ Series was organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art and curated by Christa Clarke, an independent curator and art historian and Senior Advisor at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. The exhibition was made possible through the generous support of Dr. Susan R. Harris in honor of her late husband, Thomas Molnar, a collector of African art and a docent at the Neuberger Museum of Art for over 20 years. Additional funding was provided by ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by the Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer; the Milton Rosenthal African Art Endowment; and the Roy. R. Neuberger Legacy Endowment.

The Neuberger Museum of Art opened on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, in 1974 with a core collection donated by Roy R. Neuberger, one of the greatest private collectors, philanthropists, and arts advocates of the twentieth century. Today, critically acclaimed exhibitions, tours, lectures, and interactive programs for patrons of all ages make the Neuberger a center of teaching and learning for all stages of life.

The Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art was founded in 1972 as a separately incorporated 501(c)3 corporation that serves to support the Museum as part of Purchase College, SUNY. The support is both advisory and financial, enabling the Museum to steward its collection, produce exhibitions, and create programming. Art in the Friends Collection is for the exclusive use of the Museum and, by agreement, on permanent extended loan to the Museum which has control over that art and treats it the same way as art in the Permanent Collection.

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of sixty-four universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity.

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