Shedding fresh light on modern art beyond the West, this text introduces readers to artists, art movements, debates and theoretical positions of the modern era that continue to shape contemporary art worldwide. Area histories of modern art are repositioned and interconnected towards a global art historiography.
The essays featured in the African Modern Art section provide a comprehensive overview of the key movements, fine art schools and individuals that have influenced modern and post-modern artistic practices on the continent, particularly in relation to Nigeria and South Africa. A beautifully written opening contribution by Everlyn Nicodemus rightly promotes and celebrates the contributions of pioneers such as Aina Onabolu, Ernest Mancoba, Gladys Mgudlandlu and Gerard Sekoto - whose achievements have so often been excluded from the global canon. In addition, the reprinting of important interview extracts and written commentaries by Frantz Fanon, Aime Cesaire and Ousmane Sembene, etc. also helped to place the artistic developments in focus within their broader social, political and theoretical contexts (re. Pan-Africanism, Negritude, Black Atlantic and diaaporic issues, etc.)