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William C. Siegmann

William C. Siegmann Photograph Collection

William C. Siegmann (1943-2011) was a leading expert on the arts of Liberia and Sierra Leone and was particularly associated with West African masking traditions and performance. His interest was not only in their aesthetics, but in understanding the cultural meanings and context of these arts, including their relationship with cosmology, music and dance. During his career, Siegmann served as a curator at the Africana and National Museums in Liberia, Museum of the Society of African Missions African Art (NJ), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Brooklyn Museum. He wrote and lectured extensively on the art of masquerades in Liberia and Sierra Leone, as well as on issues in museology, collecting, interpretation and connoisseurship. Siegmann shared his skills in collections development broadly, conducting frequent seminars on museum management and curatorial training in Europe, Africa, and South America. Both Siegmann’s papers and photographs are held by the Indiana University Liberian Collections.