This fresh addition to Wiley-Blackwell’s Companions to Art History series provides a much-needed perspective on the art and artists of Africa and prepares the ground for a fruitful debate on the nature of African Modernist art, often informed by a conscious engagement with European Modernism. The 29 essays that constitute this volume offer a wealth of analytical approaches, particularly those relating to African epistemologies and postcolonial theory. They cover nineteenth century photography in Liberia, early twentieth century debates on the arts in Egypt, pan-Africanism and art education in Ghana, Uganda and Senegal, revolutionary painting in Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire, and African patronage of North Korean design firms, among many other topics. Contributors also analyze broader themes such as the critical reception African artists have encountered abroad, the roles of biennales and festivals, and interface between African artists and the African diaspora.
Featuring original work by authors from Africa, Europe, and North America, the case studies explore Africa’s centuries-old interaction with modernity, tracing the influences of the Indian Ocean trade, as well as visual forms crossing the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The volume’s extended historical purview grounds the work of contemporary artists in the innovations and inventions of nineteenth and twentieth century Africa, material that is often overlooked by publications that situate such artists solely in non-African contexts. It showcases the richness and variety of the continent’s visual creativity and adds much to the theoretical debate in emerging studies of global modernism.
