Bringing African Art Collectors into the Global Art Space
Making History: African Collectors & the Canon of African Art is a ground breaking new book featuring some of Nigeria’s most outstanding traditional art works from the Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection (FAAAC). Making History was written by respected international art historian, Professor Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie of the University of California Santa Barbara, and was launched today at a private event at the Wheatbaker hotel in Ikoyi, Lagos. The 278-page critical analysis of African art collection practices in Lagos Nigeria features museum quality traditional art pieces with stunning photography by celebrated Nigerian photographer, Kelechi Amadi Obi.
Making the History
The book was launched alongside the opening of an art exhibition in which 23 FAAAC artworks of impeccable provenance were presented, for the first time ever, to a keen group of art critics, curators, collectors, journalists, private sector investors and art enthusiasts. The book was launched by His Royal Majesty, Igwe Achebe, Agbogidi Obi of Onitsha, a custodian of traditional Igbo culture, and a recognized art collector in his own right.
Making History is a celebration of over 200 unique masks, sculptures and other important artworks of Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo, Cross River, Benin & Benue River Valley origins, which were collected by Femi Akinsanya, a Nigerian investment banker, who has spent the last 30 years collecting African art. Making History was the culmination of a three-year collaboration between Akinsanya and Prof .Ogbechie, who authored the book and argues that African collectors and their collections have been totally marginalized in the global art community.
Invisible Art?
According to Ogbechie, African art collectors in Africa and specifically in Nigeria are unknown because their collections have not been exhibited, researched, photographed, authenticated and written about. He explains that between 1970-2005 the journal African Arts, one of the world’s leading scholarly publications on the arts of Africa, documented over 2000 exhibitions that promoted collections of African Art owned by European and American collectors. None of the exhibitions highlighted art owned by an African or located on the continent, despite the fact that there are many impressive collections of African art in Africa.
As the author explained, “Making History therefore sheds light on a neglected constituency of African collectors who are currently marginalized in discourses about their own cultural heritage”. The book refutes the general misconception that since Africa’s richest cultural treasures were pillaged during colonialism, nothing of much value still remains in Africa. Making History also shows that African artworks were not only exported to the West, but their intrinsic equity and economic value was also transferred from its African producers to the Western collectors promoted in most publications on the subject to date.
Antiquated Laws
Making History is a unique, valuable, well delivered, scholarly work by Nigerian art historian Ogbechie, which will add a lot of value to museums and university collections across the world,” said Mr. Mayo Adediran, retired Director of Museums, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, who reviewed the book. “It also clearly points to the fact that Nigerian museum laws, which prohibit citizens from buying and selling antiquities, need to be updated, so that individuals, communities, local governments and even universities can begin to partner with government to protect and exhibit our best cultural artifacts.”
“Our elected leaders have often acted as if arts and culture are alien luxuries that developing countries could ill afford. But our ancestors prove such perceptions are wholly misplaced as shown convincingly by the antiquity, quality, quantity and diversity of traditional art in the Akinsanya Collection and many other collections in Africa,” commented His Royal Majesty, Igwe Achebe, Agbogidi Obi of Onitsha, who launched the book.
“I call for an urgent review of our National Policy on Arts and Culture and its implementation with a view to achieving greater relevance and sustainability such that our art and culture will become key development resources,” the monarch said.
Making History is presented in collaboration with The Collectors’ Series, a new Nigerian art initiative spearheaded by Sandra Obiago, an award winning film maker and art collector, who is determined to showcase the groundbreaking work of art collectors in Nigeria.
“Making History not only demonstrates that we have world class collections which can rival any in the British Museum or the Louvre in Paris, it will also challenge art patrons to professionalize the art management process by investing more in researching, documenting and exhibiting their private collections locally and internationally,” she said.
“There is need for more openness and transparency in the mechanics of the market of African Art,” added Femi Akinsanya, whose FAAAC collection also includes a rich selection of modern and contemporary art. “We need to reform our archaic laws and work towards enabling the transfer of legal rights of title for current holders of artworks. Making History also provides an important platform for art dealers who source these works for collectors, by recognizing their important contributions to the development of African art collections, which will hopefully help move the trade of traditional African art out of the shadows.
Making History was published by 5 Continents Editions, the Italy-based foremost international publisher of books on African art and is available from leading local and international bookshops.
The exhibition of Making History, was curated by Prof. Ogbechie and supported by the Wheatbaker. The Exhibition was opened to the public at the Wheatbaker Hotel from January 27th to February 1, 2012.
visit www.akinsanyaart.com
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