The Modernist Experience in African Art: Visual Expressions of the Self and Cross-Cultural Aesthetics

T H E M O D E R N I S T E X P E R I E N C E I N A F R I C A N A R T Sk u n d e r Bo g h a s s i a n .Time Cycle II, 19 8 2 ( Em b o s s e d b a r k c l o t h - 3 0 " x 4 0 " ) . Co l l e c t i o n o f t h e ar t i s t . V I S UA L EXPRESSI ONS OF THE SELF A ND CROSS- CULTURAL AESTHETI CS Sal ah Has s an TODAY, T H E ST O RY OF E U R O P E A N ART I ST S, such as Braque, Klee, Leger, or Picasso, who sought inspiration from African and other non-western artistic traditions, is well known. In contrast, not as much is known of African artists' journeys into western centers of modernism, journeys that exemplify a construct Ali Mazrui has often designated as "counter penetration." Not only have African artists been living in western centers of artistic production, but they have also been in the forefront of contributing to modernism and even "postmodernism." Informed by these artists' own past and present predicaments, their works express differing approaches to modernity, various responses to colonialism and postcolonialism, and persistent resistance to western hegemony. Moreover, the history of modernism, solely from a western perspective, tends to exclude from its recognition not only the plurality of cultures, but the objects of "high" culture produced by the "other" as well (Araeen, 1989,6:3-14). To be sure, the history of modern expression defined by Western standards is relatively short in Africa and differs from one part of the continent to the other. But three factors provide important connections . One is the rise of European and western patronage and interventions . This was characterized by the establishment of art workshops by European expatriates, mostly colonial administrators, liberal colonial educators or missionaries. A second and related factor is the establishment of formal art schools and academies, often fashioned on the western art educational model, which can be traced to the 1940s or later. Third, and most important, is the nationalistic cultural resurgence that swept many newly independent African countries where government patronage and interest in the arts became part of building, in some cases inventing, a "national culture" and identity. In the 1970s and 1980s new African art movements and initiatives emerged either in reaction to, or as a rejection of, western schooling in art offered through workshops and art academies in Africa or acquired by travel to study in the West. The basic quest of these new movements and initiatives has been to establish a more culturally-rooted, self-conscious, and "African" aesthetic expression. Rejecting the homogenizing effect of western cultural imperialism, especially its neo-primitivizing and exoticizing tendencies, African artists have repositioned themselves as creators of an autonomous more global art. The net result has been the creation of new African artists, art movements, art associations and festivals , all attempting to construct new tropes of self-representation. Today, a myriad of western and "traditional" African influences have been synthesized and continue to be used within a modern idiom in African art. Of all the categories of African art, modern art, especially that of western trained artists, has received the least attention from art historians and other scholars of African art. This is evident in the few existing exhibitions and publications on the subject which in turn impacts the field of African art negatively. Most exhibitions and publications were dedicated to traditional and "classical" African art forms to the neglect of the modern ones. Of the intermittent and sparse exhibitions of contemporary African art, mounted in Europe and North America between the 1960s and 1980s, few had provided any critical analysis of the art works or their historical and sociocultural contexts. The majority of exhibitions were mounted with poor documentation, if documented at all. Most western museums still refuse to acquire or exhibit contemporary African work because they do not fit in or measure up...