CINCINNATI, OHIO.- The Taft Museum of Art is the final stop on the nationwide tour of African Modernism in America (February 10–May 19, 2024), co-organized by the American Federation of Arts (AFA) and the Fisk University Galleries. It is the first major traveling exhibition to examine the complex relationships between modern African artists and American patrons, artists, and cultural organizations amid the tumultuous interlocking histories of the civil rights movement in the United States, the decolonization of Africa, and the global Cold War. The exhibition includes nearly 80 dynamic and vivid works of art created in Africa during the 1950s and ‘60s.

African Modernism in America features works by nearly 50 artists that exemplify the connections between the new art that emerged in Africa during the mid-20th century and American art and cultural politics. Many of the paintings, sculptures, and works on paper in the show were drawn from Fisk’s remarkable collection of gifts from the Harmon Foundation. Following World War II, this foundation, along with other institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Fisk University and other historically Black colleges and universities, supported and exhibited the work of Black artists, including the important modern African artists Ben Enwonwu (Nigeria), Ibrahim El-Salahi (Sudan), and Skunder Boghossian (Ethiopia), whose works are featured in the exhibition.

Seen together, these objects reveal a transcontinental network of artists, curators, and scholars that challenged assumptions about African art in the United States, and thereby encouraged American engagement with African artists as contemporaries. The inventive nature of the works in this exhibition also challenged the assumptions of the time about African art being isolated to a “primitive past.” Some pieces took inspiration from early Christian art, West African sculpture, and Nigerian literature, while others reflect the influences of American jazz and modern European art.

The exhibition also includes a new commission by Nigeria-based sculptor Ndidi Dike that interrogates the Cold War era collecting histories presented in the exhibition, including those of the Harmon Foundation, in its role as a leading American organization that was devoted to the support and promotion of African and African American artists from its founding in 1922 through its closure in 1967.

“This is an exceptional exhibition that sheds light on cross-cultural artistic exchange,” says the Taft Museum of Art’s associate curator Ann Glasscock, who is curating the museum’s installation of the show. “The exhibition also provides the opportunity to challenge assumptions about African art and its influences, reintroducing these artists into the contextualization of art histories, continued research, and scholarship.”

African Modernism in America debuted at the Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, TN (October 7, 2022–February 11, 2023) and traveled to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO (March 10–August 6, 2023) and The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC (October 7, 2023–January 7, 2024). The Taft Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH is the final stop on the national tour (February 10–May 19, 2024).

African Modernism in America opens to the public at the Taft Museum of Art on February 10, 2024. General admission is free for Taft members, military, and youth (17 and under); $15 for adults; and $12 for seniors. Non-members save by purchasing tickets online. Sundays and Mondays are free! Tickets on sale now at taftmuseum.org/Exhibitions/AfricanModernism.

American Federation of Arts

The American Federation of Arts is the leader in traveling exhibitions internationally. A nonprofit organization founded in 1909, the AFA is dedicated to enriching the public’s experience and understanding of the visual arts through organizing and touring art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishing exhibition catalogues featuring important scholarly research, and developing educational programs.