Functional ëTreasuresí Although Immense, Display of African Art Has Intriguing Items by Heather Nalbone All Smithsonian art institutions are not created equally. The National Gallery of Art has its landmark sculpture garden. The Hirshhorn has its circular galleries and Arte Povera cardboard "art." The National Portrait Gallery has an 80,000-plus item Web database, and the Freer Gallery of Art has a dynamite Asian cinema program. Sandwiched among them all is the often-overlooked National Museum of African Art, with a plot of land so small that its gallery halls had to be created undergroundóa characteristic that adds to the interiorís shadowy ambience. Founded in the 1960s as a private institution, the museumís mission is to advance an appreciation and understanding of Africaís rich visual arts and diverse cultures. It does this with flair through a photography archive, a public library and a permanent collection of figures, masks and everyday tools that numbers in the thousands. One of the newest exhibits features 73 piecesóincluding some that have never been publicly shown in the United Statesóselected for a display intended to "reveal aesthetic variances" in African arti stic expression between the 15th and 20th centuries. The exhibit also commemorates the museumís 25th anniversary since becoming a part of the Smithsonian Institution. The idea of the show was to strip it of historical context, thus encouraging viewers to think of the pieces as art rather than artifact. There is no chronology and very little wall text in the newly renovated, 7,500-square-foot underground gallery where "Treasures" is now open to the public. "I chose the familiarótraditional sculptureóto see African art as form, not function," museum director and exhibit curator Sharon F. Patton said in a statement. "ëTreasures,í therefore, is about visual exploration and aesthetic discovery." Somewhat contradictory to this approach is that most of the items chosen for "Treasures" obviously were created to be primarily functional. And although the museumís Web site describes the exhibit as an "eclectic display," this lumping together of masks and statuettes from varying origins while offering little context in effect limits the appreciable differences among the pieces to the untrained eye. In fact, the series of free-standing glass encasements in such an immensely open space (the ceilings are 12 feet tall) appeared noticeably tiring for several visitors on a recent Sunday, who passed through the gallery quickly on their way to other displays. Still, many of the items are individually intriguing, especially when some description is offered. I found it fascinating, for instance, to learn that the elongated limbs of one humanistic figure were carved into the natural shape of a tree branch. The outstretched arms of another statuette made by the Senufo people of CÙte díIvoire were used to beat the item into the ground as a percussive tool during funeral processions. Still another sculpture was coated with a liquid that had been poured over it, presumably during some ritualistic ceremony many years ago. There are a few items that stand out from the sculptures and masks. One such piece is a door from a 19th-century palace, carved with images meant to record an encounter that the King of Ise of Nigeriaís Yoruba people had with the first British traveling commissioner, Captain W.G. Ambrose. Another is a royal stool belonging to the Edo people, which actually looks more European than African. The exhibit also celebrates displays from the early 20th century that first brought African items into the American art-collecting scene, and many of the items on display were part of those early exhibits. "Treasures" is the first in a series of exhibitions that will highlight jewelry, textiles and other objects. Because the strength of the National Museum of African Art is its preservation of culture, the display is arguably best viewed in combination with the museumís other exhibits, which currently include period ceramics and everyday objects, as well as a small collection of contemporary paintings. "Treasures" runs through Aug. 15 at the National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave., SW. For more information, please call (202) 633-4600 or visit http://africa.si.edu. Heather Nalbone is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.