The visual nation: Exhibition, quilting, and cultural diplomacy in Liberia, 1847-201

This dissertation argues that exhibitions and quilting functioned as important forms through which cultural diplomacy and national representation was constructed in the Republic of Liberia from independence through the present. Liberia staged National and World's fair exhibits, capitalizing on the world exposition phenomenon in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to present its arts and economic resources to international audiences. Concurrently, Liberian officials began to deploy quilts as diplomatic gifts and displayed in fair and museum exhibits. The exhibits constructed visual representations of Liberian culture depicting an idealized version of a culturally diverse but nationally unified Republic. Moving beyond canonical works of Liberian art, I analyze Liberian exhibits and quilting to show how Liberians conceived of national cultural identities and represented Liberia since the nineteenth century.;I also consider who constructed and curated these versions of Liberian culture. Such an approach is the first to approach Liberian exhibition by looking at the participation of Liberian curators as well as American anthropologists and art historians who shaped the scholarship of Liberian art history in the second half of the twentieth century. In doing so, I explore why a century-and-a-half-old art practice by Liberian women has been absent from the literature. Analysis of Liberian quilters' works contributes to the recuperative work of feminist art historians, but also allows me to contribute new perspectives on women's political participation in the development of Liberia. The project is not only recuperative, but also asks that viewers look at the artworks differently, in terms of both the histories of Liberian exhibition and historical contexts in which they were created. Not only have women actively shaped international cultural diplomacy through making diplomatic gifts, the art forms allow women to negotiate their multiple heritages and experiences visually. By investigating the ways that Liberian women artists contribute to cultural diplomacy, the active nature of Liberian curators at the fairs, and the absence of both from art historical literature, my dissertation demonstrates the necessity to reconsider and expand the Liberian art historical canon to incorporate trans-Atlantic art histories that are critical to the study of Liberian art.