Jean Borgatti Collection

Object Details

Photographer

Borgatti, Jean

Artist

Ajanaku, Lawrence

Names

Erediauwa, King of Benin, 1923-2016

Artist

Obamina, Achetu, b. 1897 -

Omogbai, Pius Isah

Onobrakpeya, Bruce, 1932-

Place

Nigeria

Nigeria -- Osun State -- Ilesha

Nigeria -- Kaduna -- Zaria

Lagos (Nigeria)

Benin (Nigeria)

Nigeria -- Federal Capital Territory -- Abuja

Nigeria -- Plateau -- Jos Plateau (Bauchi Plateau)

Oshogbo (Nigeria)

Kumasi (Ghana)

Cape Coast (Ghana)

Niamey (Niger)

Abomey (Benin)

Benin -- Atlantique -- Ouidah

Nigeria -- Benue State

Bida (Nigeria)

Kano (Nigeria)

Topic

Ekperi (African people)

Urhobo (African people)

Ghana

Masquerades

Festivals

Coronations

Workshops

Portraits

Okpe (Urhobo people)

Shrines

Gelede -- Photographs

Marketplaces

Provenance

Donated by Jean Borgatti in 2016.

Photographer

Borgatti, Jean

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Jean Borgatti Collection

Summary

Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003 and was created primarily in Nigeria but with some images from Ghana (Kumase, Cape Coast), Niger (Niamey), and the Benin Republic (Road to Abomey, near Ouidah). Much of the collection documents masquerades, shrines, festivals, market scenes, and ceremonies in the then Bendel State (now Edo and Delta States), and includes images from Etsako (specifically, Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie) Okpella, Okhu, and Weppa-Wano peoples), Akoko Edo (Urhurhun Uneme, Igarra), and Owan (Otuo and Ikao peoples), as well as some images from Ishan (Ekpoma-Illeh, Ubiaja, Ugboha), Urhobo (Ughelli, Ohoro, Okpedomu, Emadaja) and Benin City as well as other parts of Nigeria including the then Western State (Oshogbo, Ibadan, Oyo, Ilesha), Benue Plateau State (Oturkpo-Makurdi Road, Tiv country, Jos), Northeastern State (Yankari Game Preserve, Gombe, Tula, Yola), Northwest Stateb (Bida), East Central State (Owerri), and Kano.

Biographical / Historical

Art historian and photographer Jean Borgatti's research focuses on cross cultural concepts of art and aesthetics, masquerades and festivals, portraiture, the Black Atlantic, and the continuities and discontinuities in African, African Diaspora, Oceanic and Native American art. An active photographer since at least 1971, she has worked primarily in Benin City, Nigeria and areas in northern Edo State, photographing the Okpella people and other Edo North groups. Borgatti received her B.A. in Art History from Wellesley College (1966) and both her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Art History from UCLA. Since then, she has received fellowships, grants, and awards for research including a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities (1979-1980), a Sainsbury Institute Fellowship at the University of East Anglia (2005), and two Fulbright fellowships (2002-2004, 2014-2016) for lecturing and conducting research in Nigeria. She was also presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (2014) for her contributions to the field. She taught African and Native American Art History at Clark University for twenty years and has continued her affiliation with Clark as a visiting scholar and research fellow. Additionally, Borgatti has been a visiting scholar of art history and African studies at Boston University (2010-2016). Borgatti has curated a number of exhibitions, including From the Hands of Lawrence Ajanaku (Museum of Cultural History Gallery UCLA and the African American Institute New York, 1979); Likeness and Beyond: Portraits in Africa and the World (with Richard Brilliant and Alan Wardwell), Center for African Art, New York, and the Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, 1990); Global Africa: Creativity, Continuity and Change in African Art, 2014-2017, and several museum shows in which African works were placed "in conversation" or "face to face" with works from Asia, Europe, and America throughout the Fitchburg Art Museum (2011-2012). Borgatti has published more than twenty articles on African art with such varied topics as masquerades in Edo North (Nigeria), portraiture in world art, the art market, and individual African artists. Dr. Borgatti is a consulting curator on African and Oceanic Art at the Fitchburg Art Museum (Massachusetts, 2010-present) and a Professor of Art History, Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin (Nigeria, 2013-2017).

Extent

3617 Slides (photographs) (color, 35 mm)

166 Contact sheets ((2 binders))

3555 Negatives (photographic) (black and white, 35 mm)

4 Notebooks ((1 box))

1 Cassette tape ((2 boxes))

25 Film reels (Super 8)

Date

1971-2003

Archival Repository

Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art

Identifier

EEPA.2016-007

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Slides (photographs)

Contact sheets

Negatives (photographic)

Notebooks

Cassette tapes

Film reels

Citation

Jean Borgatti Collection, EEPA 2016-007, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African, Smithsonian Institution.

Arrangement

Arranged into 4 series by format. Series 1, 2 and 4 are arranged chronologically and Series 3 is arranged alphabetically. Series 1: Field Slides, 1971-2003 Series 2: Negatives, 1971-circa 1979 Series 3: Audio and Film Reels, circa 1970s-1982 Series 4: Digital Files, circa 1971-2015

Processing Information

Finding aid by Eden Orelove, 2019. Metadata for the slides was prepared by Nadia Albeiz and Hannah Storch. Metadata for the negatives was prepared by Kellen Hope and Hannah Storch. Slides were digitized in 2017. Negatives were digitized in 2019. Scope and contents edited in 2023 in collaboration with donor. Four of the slides were blank and are not included in this finding aid: EEPA 2016-007-2808; EEPA 2016-007-3032; EEPA 2016-007-3092; and EEPA 2016-007-3138.

Rights

Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws. Collection contains images of art and museum objects and exhibitions with copyright restrictions.

Scope and Contents

Jean Borgatti's collection dates from 1971 to 2003-4 and is comprised of 3,617 slides, 3,625 negatives, 4 negative books, contact prints, an audio cassette, 25 Super 8 film reels, and 23,425 digital images. The 1971-2004 collection includes photographs made between 1971-1974, 1979, and (mostly born digital) 2002-2004. The materials from 1971-1974 include research-oriented images taken at the National Museum, Onikan, Lagos, as well as field photographs in Edo North. Initially a survey of material culture was carried out in Etsako Local Government Area of the then Bendel, now Edo, State. This included visiting some 43 villages across 9 ethnic groups (Auchi, Avianwu, Ekperi, North Ibie/Ivie, South Ibie/Ivie, Okpella/Ukpila, Okhu, Uzairue, Weppa-Wano [Uwepa-Uwao], and Uneme/Ineme in Akoko-Edo LGA) as well as Otuo and Ikao in Owan LGA. The Etsako communities included Auchi, Avianwu's Afashio, Fugar, and Iraokhor; Ekperi's Azukhala, Okpenada, Osomegbe, Ugbekpe, Udaba Weppa-Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, and Edegbe; North Ibie included Itsukwi and Okpekpe; South Ibie; Eastern Okpella made up of Afokpella including numerous quarters (Iyeluwa, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Kalaba, Imigbai, Imioko), Ogiriga, and Iddo I (old Iddo) and Iddo II (new Iddo); and western Okpella made up of Awuyemi, Imiegiele, Ogute, Imiaguese, Imiekuri, Ilewi, Ithurogbe, Ogute, and the affiliated Okhu I and Okhu II; Weppa Wano's Agenebode, Aigyere, Amugbe, Edegbe, Iviabua, Iviukhua, Emokhueme, and Iviukhwe; and Uzairue's Ogbido, Iluoke, Afowa, Ayogiri, Apana, Ikabigbo, Iyora, and Jattu. ShapeMuch of the collection depicts festivals, masquerades, and ceremonies, including Okpella's Olimi Festival, Ekperi's Otsa Festival, Weppa Wano's Ake festival, the Aimhi or Okakagbe masquerade, Otuo and Ikao's Igugu or Eliminia Festival, a Gelede masquerade performance, Okpella's Aminague masquerade, and many individually named masquerades in Edo North. There are also images of title-taking ceremonies, paraphernalia, and shrines, including the Okpella men's Atsogwa title ceremony Oghalo and a comparable one for an Ogbidegua, a titled woman; Avianwu's Aziza, Ekperi's Okailopokai shrine, the Yoruba Oshun shrine at Oshogbo, and Okpella's Okula, a forest shrine associated with Olimi Festival. The most intensive photography is associated with Okpella, Ekperi, Weppa-Wano, Otuo and Ikao masquerades. The 1979 photographs comprise portraits of individuals responding to a survey on Aesthetic Preference carried out in the Eastern Okpella communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella (Iyeluwa, Kalaba, Imioko, Imiomoka, Imiamune, Imigbai). Iddo I and II, and in Western Okpella the communities of Imiakiu, Imiokewa, Imiedemi, Imiomoh, Udiegwa, Okhu Afokha, Okhu Owu, Imienegwe, and Imiekuri. Olimi Festival research was conducted in Afokpella, Ogiriga, Iddo II, and Ogute. The 2002-2004 digital images were taken during a panel study based on 1979 Survey on Aesthetic Preference. Portraits of respondents from the communities of Ogiriga, Afokpella, Iyeluwa, Imigbai, Imiamune, Kalaba, Ogute Oke, Imiakiu, Imikhese, Imionoh, Imiokewa, Udiegwa, Imiediemi, Imiagbese, Imiekuri, Awuyemi, Imiegiele, Iddo I, and Iddo II.

Restrictions

Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.

Record ID

ebl-1554497419958-1554497420187-0

Metadata Usage

CC0

GUID

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/xo7cd1b395d-e452-4ecd-b5e2-b5c021e807c4