Paintings and Works on Paper from the collection of Roy Sieber (1923-2001) and Sophia Sieber (1923-2013).
Sophia Sieber was a 1945 graduate of Butler University where she majored in Elementary Education. She taught third grade in the Indianapolis public schools and in a two-room rural school in Iowa. She met her husband, Roy, when both were counselors at a summer camp. She was Roy’s lifetime partner in his academic work and in raising a family.
Roy Sieber is considered the “founder of the discipline of African art history in the United States” (Kreamer). His major publications, such as African Textiles and the Decorative Arts (1980), are object-oriented discussions that also explain the social context of the works examined. Sieber graduated from the New School for Social Research in New York in 1949 guided in his studies by Meyer Schapiro, Rudolf Arnheim, and the artist Mauricio Lasansky. Sieber moved to the University of Iowa where he received his M.A. in 1951. In 1956, Sieber curated a small exhibition of African art while studying at the University, receiving his Ph.D. in 1957 with his dissertation on African art, the first in the United States.
He joined Indiana University as an associate professor in 1962, one of the original scholars in the University’s nascent African Studies Program. He was named a distinguished professor and given a Rudy Professorship Award in 1974.
In 1983, Sieber became Associate Director for Collections and Research at the National Museum of African Art (Smithsonian Collections), where he was responsible for evaluating collection research and developing acquisition standards. Sieber received the first Leadership Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association in 1986. At the Museum, he curated several major exhibitions, including African Art in the Cycle of Life (1987) with Roslyn Walker, the inaugural exhibition of the museum’s site on the Mall. Sieber authored the introduction to Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art and Hair in African Art and Culture and the essay in “Extreme Canvas: Hand-Painted Movie Posters From Ghana.”
This collection represents a rare cross section of 20th C printmakers and artists, many known personally to the Siebers along with their very close connection with African artists. The ethnographic arts collected by Roy Sieber will be presented for sale in early 2026.
