The Carlos Museum's collection of African art offers valuable insight into African artistic expressions in the variety of their forms, functions, and cultures of origin. A majority of the objects come from the collection of William S. Arnett acquired by the museum in 1994. Arnett collected masks and carved figures from West and Central Africa, particularly the numerous cultures of Nigeria, Benin (formerly Dahomey), the Cameroon Grassfields, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.