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The African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers at Tenafly, New
Jersey is one of five museums around the world founded and maintained by the
Society of African Missions (SMA), an international Roman Catholic missionary
organization that serves the people of Africa.
The museums continue the vision of SMA's founder, Bishop
Melchior de Marion Bresillac (1813-1859). The French-born clergyman urged his
Society to respect and preserve the culture of the peoples they serve, the
unique vision among missionaries of his time.
EstablIshed in 1980, the Tenafly museum is one of only a
rare few in the United States dedicated solely to the arts of Africa. Its
permanent collections, exhibited on a rotating basis, offer a unique advantage
in the study and research of sub-Saharan sculpture and painting, costumes,
textiles and decorative arts, religion and folklore. |