FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My take on auctions and contemporary African Art in today's New York Times

Toyin Falola

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From: Sylvester Ogbechie Ogbechie <ogbechie@arthistory.ucsb.edu>
Date: Monday, May 22, 2017 at 11:18 AM
To: Bisi Silva <labisi@gmail.com>
Cc: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>, chika Okeke-Agulu <cokekeag@princeton.edu>, ishola williams <isholawilliams@yahoo.com>, "murfsculpt@sbcglobal.net" <murfsculpt@sbcglobal.net>, Janine Sytsma <jsytsma@wisc.edu>, Chuka Nnabuife <chukacater@yahoo.com>, "ade_azeez2002@yahoo.com" <ade_azeez2002@yahoo.com>, "alafara3@yahoo.com" <alafara3@yahoo.com>, abayomi ola Ola <AOla@spelman.edu>, "egonwa1@yahoo.com" <egonwa1@yahoo.com>, "jerrybuhari@yahoo.com" <jerrybuhari@yahoo.com>, "krydz@panafricanartists.org" <krydz@panafricanartists.org>, "OFAMULE@uwsuper.edu" <OFAMULE@uwsuper.edu>, "ola.oloidi@yahoo.com" <ola.oloidi@yahoo.com>, "onoyom_ukpong@yahoo.com" <onoyom_ukpong@yahoo.com>, Peju Layiwola <pejulayiwola@yahoo.com>, "penncils@yahoo.com" <penncils@yahoo.com>, "ronnxie@yahoo.com" <ronnxie@yahoo.com>, Segun Ajiboye <segunajib@yahoo.com>, "sojewuyi@siu.edu" <sojewuyi@siu.edu>, "TFilani@scsu.edu" <TFilani@scsu.edu>, Tejumola Olaniyan <tolaniyan@wisc.edu>, "ugiomohfrani@yahoo.co.uk" <ugiomohfrani@yahoo.co.uk>, "unzewi@emory.edu" <unzewi@emory.edu>, "eniningbj@gmail.com" <eniningbj@gmail.com>, jegede <jegeded@muohio.edu>, "jane.bryce@cavehill.uwi.edu" <jane.bryce@cavehill.uwi.edu>, Freida High <high@wisc.edu>, Bolaji Campbell <bcampbel@risd.edu>, "cokekeag@princton.edu" <cokekeag@princton.edu>, "krydz@heavensgate-ng.com" <krydz@heavensgate-ng.com>, "ogbadeg@emory.edu" <ogbadeg@emory.edu>, "Adejumo, Christopher O" <c.ade@austin.utexas.edu>, Michael Harris <olonamdh@gmail.com>, Rowland Abiodun <roabiodun@amherst.edu>, "blawal@mail1.vcu.edu" <blawal@mail1.vcu.edu>, "dtdoris@umich.edu" <dtdoris@umich.edu>, "akinwaleonipede@yahoo.coom" <akinwaleonipede@yahoo.coom>, "radedamola@yahoo.com" <radedamola@yahoo.com>, "segunajib@yaho.com" <segunajib@yaho.com>, alao <akinalao@yahoo.com>, "babaleya@yahoo.com" <babaleya@yahoo.com>, "ebankoleojo@yahoo.com" <ebankoleojo@yahoo.com>, "vekpuk@yahoo.com" <vekpuk@yahoo.com>, "rrecacdngo@yahoo.com" <rrecacdngo@yahoo.com>, "oliverenwonwu@yahoo.com" <oliverenwonwu@yahoo.com>, Stephen Ad⁄yem‚ FolΩr√nm‚ <folasteve@yahoo.com>, "sh40@cornell.edu" <sh40@cornell.edu>, "ibraheem_muheeb@yahoo.com" <ibraheem_muheeb@yahoo.com>, "jahblak@yahoo.com" <jahblak@yahoo.com>, Kunle Filani <kunlefilani@yahoo.com>, "bmmurray@gmail.com" <bmmurray@gmail.com>, "joemusa@joemusa.com" <joemusa@joemusa.com>, "ikaynwachukwu@yahoo.com" <ikaynwachukwu@yahoo.com>, "bestochigbo@yahoo.com" <bestochigbo@yahoo.com>, "okndibe@yahoo.com" <okndibe@yahoo.com>, "mikeck27@hotmail.com" <mikeck27@hotmail.com>, "mufuonifade@yahoo.com" <mufuonifade@yahoo.com>, "periajib@yahoo.com" <periajib@yahoo.com>, "ronke.adesanya@mail.ui.edu.ng" <ronke.adesanya@mail.ui.edu.ng>, "oladimejitiri@yahoo.com" <oladimejitiri@yahoo.com>, Tola Wewe <tolawewe@yahoo.com>, "akinbogun2003@yahoo.com" <akinbogun2003@yahoo.com>, "toniokpe@yahoo.com" <toniokpe@yahoo.com>, "tunde_babawale-yahoo.com" <tunde_babawale@yahoo.com>, "konatey@gmail.com" <konatey@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: FW: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My take on auctions and contemporary African Art in today's New York Times

First off, congrats to Chika Okeke-Agulu for his piece. It is good to see people discussing this important issue. Thanks also to Bisi for pointing out that I have devoted more than a decade of work to highlighting this issue, which I frame as the question of how to enhance the value of African art and cultural production, and how to secure to Africans the intellectual property and cultural patrimony rights of their ancestral and contemporary heritage. I agree with Bisi that diaspora based African scholars should do more to turn things around but note that calls to that effect have mainly fallen on deaf ears. We are all somehow engaged in transactional relationships here and not enough collaborative ventures, which is really what we need. This involves also collaborations between diaspora and African operatives, to move things forward collectively.

As Bisi noted, I made calls for greater focus on these issues ten years ago, and even before that I predicted the commercialization of contemporary African art in my review of Okwui Enwezor's Documenta XI. I consider it unfortunate that the same calls one made so long ago are now being repeated, which is the result of a lack of organized effort in that direction. Prof jegede is right that the narrative of modern and contemporary African art has been shaped substantially by African scholars. It is important to ask whether this will persist if these scholars do not work to develop a new generation to take up the mantle. One of the primary problems of research in our field is the constant return to a situation where African art continues to be "discovered" every ten years or so, a narrative that wipes out previous work in the field in favor of celebrating the new "discoverers". It will be truly unfortunate if in anotehr decade we gather here to again celebrate the perpetual rediscovery of the continents art and cultural production.

Perhaps it is time for a conclave. I am calling for a meeting of minds to map out how to best proceed so that some of the objectives defined here as desirable can be met. Talk is cheap; action is much more difficult but useful.

Cheers.

____________________
Professor Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, PhD

Founder and Editor, Critical Interventions
Smithsonian Institution Senior Fellow 2016-2017

950 Independence Avenue, SW

MRC 708

Washington DC 20560

On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 11:34 AM, Bisi Silva <labisi@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank Prof, 

Good day to all the many Profs here, I hope this email meets you well. All protocols observed o! 

Thanks for the article Chika especially some of the salient points that you highlighted. 

I am just reposting my comment on Facebook to add to the discussion. 

Yes African collectors and those based here must participate in this market. So what are the realistic, realisable strategies? We all know what the problem is but what are the strategies and solutions to be put in place. I think there needs to be a concerted effort by all here and in the diaspora. Very few galleries in the west are doing anything here or collaborating or expanding or including a component/branch on the continent outside of artfairs. Take October Gallery or Magnin A for example two of the longest existing off the top of my head. Though Magnin operated for a much longer time as an independent curator/agent. Jack Bell tried but as i read and understood it then it seemed exploitative to me - rightly or wrong - and am not sure what happened to it or if it continues. 1:54 has understood that engaging with potential African collectors has to be done here hence their first edition which will happen in Marrakech in Feb 2018. And what are those in the diaspora willing to do? Many have cushy jobs and tenured positions in top Universities and institutions which guarantees stability how can they be used to engineer solutions here. I remember asking during my talk at Northwestern University, how can the contents of one of the largest libraries of Africana be made accessible in Africa? How can knowledge be shared and transferred? Can their networks, access to top collectors, curators, institutions translate into something tangible on the continent? The market/sector is young, full of potential but also extremely vulnerable. But I believe this is the exact moment that the African Diaspora can and should make the strongest effort to turn things around. Sometimes it is not about money but about networks and exchanges and a little bit of one's time.

And i add this now.

I remember a colleague called me yesterday to talk about the article and he said that this is what Sylvester Ogbechie has been talking about for so many years. I do remember the summers that Prof Ogbechie used to come to Lagos and offered his time in giving a series of lectures about cultural management, valuing, recognising our cultural asset etc. This was important but also I think very early on in the way people were thinking so the real implications would have been lost on many. But if that same lecture was given today nearly a decade later I think it would result in unprecedented activity. Hence the import of the sentence above "I believe this is the exact moment that the African Diaspora can and should make the strongest effort to turn thing around." There are so many people 'on ground' who you can partner/collaborate with. Lets forget hierarchies because each person is coming with a unique and valuable experiences and insights. 

A great example is the Asiko curatorial and artistic pan African roaming project by CCA, Lagos.   Last year we had Prof Moyo Okediji spend 3 weeks out of the 5 weeks in Addis Ababa with us giving lectures, taking part in the crits, and the curatorial seminars. He participated as a guest in2014 in Dakar too. All at his own cost. I couldn't even slip a birr into his pocket.  Same with Eddie Chambers and other people who might pay the ticket and we the  accommodation. Prof Tamar Garb has been a faculty since 2013. I remember Prof Okediji saying and I paraphrase, Wow! these are the young people that I should be teaching. What am I doing teaching African art to oyinbos? Or something like that!!! 

In Asiko Addis Ababa 2016 our main weekly reading material for the 5 weeks was a favourite of mine Postcolonial Modernism by dear Chika :) . I divided the participants into groups of 3 or 4 and they each had 2 chapters which they would come to the class and discuss.  Jeez!!!! That was serious hard work.  I had never been so frustrated at the inarticulate renderings that came back. It could have been written in Greek for all I know.  Not to say that these are not brilliant young people but it is an indication of the awful, awful education system. And whilst I know they may not have understood it during the course - and I let them know their performance is not good enough of course - I believe that they will reread and reread and reread till they get it and that is the purpose of what we do. Feed them as best as we can and let them digest at their own pace. 

Sorry for the long email. Thanks for your article Prof Chika.   And thanks for this platform Prof Falola.  

Thank you! 

Regards

Bisi

On 22 May 2017 at 15:38, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My take on auctions and contemporary African Art in today's New York Times

Dear All:

 

In every field of study and endeavor, there are giants (or elephants) and, of course, rodents! In the Art World, we make way for the jegedes (Prof), Okeke-Agulus, Anatsuis and others ( as Elephants) to make their voices heard. So, hearing from Professor Emeritus Professor jegede, in response, to the brilliant piece by Princeton Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu does say it all.

 

Indeed, when my spouse and I read the piece in NYT, "Modern African Art Is Being Gentrified", we immediately saluted Professor Okeke-Agulu (Chika) for making it big in NYT with the brilliant art piece. Of course, from the original piece in the Sunday Review section of NYT, there are two pictorial illustrations: of "Drifting Continents" (2009) by El Anatsui, the Ghanaian artist; and then "How to Blow Up Two Heads at Once (Ladies; 2006) by Yinka Shonibare, the British-Nigerian artist. My spouse, out of curiosity, asked me: "Why have two female heads blown at once by women, but not heads of two men blown out by men?"  As my legendary and quotable mentor (Baba Ijebu) would explain: "Maybe, it is part of the gentrification. Is that not be so, abi?"!

 

Many thanks to Professor Okeke-Aguku, for putting Sotheby's auction of works by artists from our beleaguered continent on the map of today's "Trump World" and, also, many thanks to Professor Emeritus jegede for creating a "forest dance" around the published NYT piece.

 

And, as VC Aluko would have ended a response: "There you have it"!

 

A.B. Assensoh.

---

From:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of jegede, dele <dele.jegede@miamioh.edu>
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2017 9:54 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - My take on auctions and contemporary African Art in today's New York Times

 

I congratulate Chika Okeke-Agulu for his excellent piece in NYT. He makes the point quite persuasively: Africa is doomed to repeat history if it fails to learn from it. But it is not all gloom and doom. To the examples that he cites—in DRC and South Africa—we can add that of Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, Nigeria, to which Omoba Yemisi Shyllon, a major collector, has donated a substantial chunk of his collections. Additionally, he has also committed to building an art museum on the university campus.

It is important to note that the interest that Sotheby's and other major auction houses have now begun to show in African art is due substantially to the efforts of African scholars like Chika who have assiduously opened up hitherto protected channels—through monographs, essays in journals, curatorial work, and teaching in Euro-American outlets and spaces. Too, it is gratifying to note that while Euro-American scholars pioneered the scholarship of "traditional" African art, which in turn legitimized the "collection" or, to be frank, rapacious looting of the material culture of African peoples, the narrative of modern and contemporary African art is shaped substantially by African scholars.

Ongoing trends regarding the production, collection, and promotion of modern and contemporary African art suggest that we must lower our hopes and dependency on governments to provide any leadership in establishing and funding viable art museums in Africa. The future in this area lies in the hands of individuals and private enterprises.

dele jegede

dele jegede, Ph.D
Professor Emeritus
Miami University. Oxford. OH

Art Historian. Painter. Cartoonist. Curator

dele-jegede.com

On Sun, May 21, 2017 at 4:49 AM, Chika Okeke-Agulu <okekeagulu@gmail.com> wrote:

This Opinion piece in NYT Sunday Review was prompted by last Tuesday's inaugural modern and contemporary African Art auction by Sotheby's:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/20/opinion/sunday/modern-african-art-sothebys.html

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Warm Regards

Bisi Silva

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