Central Africa Expedition Poster (1909)
The acquisition of colonies in Africa stimulated the popular imagination in Germany. Once-foreign lands and peoples were now under German control, to be “discovered,” analyzed, and catalogued. Germans were leaders in the new field of anthropology. Anthropological exhibitions allowed the larger public to encounter African peoples and cultures. This poster suggests the exoticizing and simultaneously demeaning character of one such exhibition, which was put on in 1909. The text reads: “Central Africa Expedition taken in 1907/1908 by Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg. Exhibition of Scientific Findings. Exhibition Halls at the Zoo. Berlin, March 3-20, 1909. Open from 10am-7pm.”
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