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
Professor Emeritus
Miami University. Oxford. OH
Art Historian. Painter. Cartoonist. Curator
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-afr ican-art-sothebys.html
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