Visitors to Fairfield University Art Museum in Fairfield, Connecticut, enjoy authentic African art, collected by local artist Alfred James Tulk during the 1930s. Titled “Liberia, 1931–33,” the exhibition, through Dec. 14, marks the first of its kind at Fairfield University focused solely on African art.

Alfred J. Tulk. Mano Woman, Ganta, Liberia, 1932-33. Oil on Masonite. 12 x 14 inches. Private collection.

More than 40 artifacts and ceremonial objects, including textiles, jewelry, masks and domestic furnishings, have been gathered and assembled from Tulk’s former private collection. The exhibit is augmented with Tulk’s own original paintings, drawings and watercolors depicting subjects personally observed by the artist during his time in West Africa.

Also, among the works on display is a large-scale oil painting that marks Tulk’s foray into Abstract Expressionism.

The exhibition includes a display of photographs, personal correspondence and original field notes from Tulk’s expedition to Liberia. Among events at the museum taking place in conjunction with the exhibition are a lecture on “The Representation of Africa in Western Art” given by Dr. Scotty Lacy, associate professor of sociology and anthropology (Oct. 17); Family Day: Arts of Liberia (Oct. 20); a screening of the film Pray the Devil Back to Hell (Oct. 30); and a gallery talk on collecting and field work in West Africa, also presented by Lacy.