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Museum object · Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design

Sketch of Mangbetu design by Malene Barnett for Afritex

1997

New York, New York, United States, North and Central America

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Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

Sketch of the "Mangbetu" fabric design, designed by Male Djenaba Barnett for Afritex. The sketch is drawn on tissue paper using pencil and brown crayon. The design is of two profiles of a woman wearing a striped headwrap connected together. There are two rows of the design on the sketch. In the top row of the design the heads are facing upwards and on the second row they are facing downwards. There are four lines around the design creating a square border. Written at the top right corner is the word [TOP]. There are multiple creases on each side of the paper. There is a piece of the paper torn off on the bottom left side. There are tears along each edge of the paper.

Sources & collection details

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture — original record ↗

Source collection ↗

Catalog metadata · CC0 · Source checked 2026-10-13

Catalog reference: 2025.18.14

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