National Museum of African Art

National Museum of African Art
	Location in Washington, D.C.
Former name	Museum of African Art
Established	1964
Location	Washington, D.C., United States
Coordinates	38°53′17″N 77°01′32″W / 38.8880°N 77.0255°W
Collections	African art
Collection size	11,800
Visitors	213,000 (2016)
Founder	Warren M. Robbins
Public transit access	at Smithsonian
Website	africa.si.edu

The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-Saharan and North Africa, 300,000 photographs, and 50,000 library volumes. It was the first institution dedicated to African art in the United States and remains the largest collection. The Washington Post called the museum a mainstay in the international art world and the main venue for contemporary African art in the United States.

The museum was founded in 1964 by a former Foreign Service officer in Capitol Hill. The collection focused on traditional African art and an educational mission to teach black cultural heritage. To ensure the museum's longevity, the founder lobbied Congress to adopt the museum under the Smithsonian's auspices. It joined the Smithsonian in 1979 and became the National Museum of African Art two years later. A new, primarily underground museum building was completed in 1987, just off the National Mall and adjacent to other Smithsonian museums. It is among the Smithsonian's smallest museums.

The African art museum took a scholarly direction over the next twenty years, with less social programming. It collected traditional and contemporary works of historical importance. Exhibitions include both internal and borrowed works and have ranged from solo artists to broad survey shows. The museum hosts two-to-three temporary exhibitions and ten special events annually. The preferred abbreviation for its name is NMAfA.