Dakar School

Dakar School
École de Dakar
Years activeSeptember 1960–1974
LocationSenegal
Major figuresLéopold Sédar Senghor,
Iba N'Diaye,
Papa Ibra Tall,
Pierre Lods,
InfluencesGovernment of Senegal,
Négritude
"La Foret aux Souvenirs" (1962) by Papa Ibra Tall
"La Foret aux Souvenirs" (1962) by Papa Ibra Tall

The Dakar School (French: École de Dakar, lit. 'School of Dakar') is an art movement in Senegal at the dawn of independence, between 1960 and 1974. It was supported by the first Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor and was associated with his cultural policies informed by the larger Négritude movement from the 1930s, which emphasized Black cultural identity and heritage within a modernist framework.

Founding figures commonly associated with this movement included Papa Ibra Tall, Iba N'Diaye, and Pierre Lods.

History

Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor was the first art critic of French-speaking Black Africa, which started with his first publication on the matter in 1956. In his early years of office starting in 1960, Senghor's cultural policy emphasized the development of a national identity through the arts and aimed to establish Senegal as a hub for modern African artistic production. The cultural policies involved the creation of museums, art schools, and festivals, such as the Grand National Theater of Dakar (French: Grand Théâtre National de Dakar), the National Tapestry Manufacturers in Thiès [fr] (French: Manufacture Nationale de Tapisserie de Thiès), and the École Nationale des Beaux Arts (it merged in 1995 and now National School of Arts, Senegal [fr]) in Dakar.

Under the paternalism of Senghor, the Dakar School was formed in September 1960 and its approach aimed to form a globalized contemporary art in Senegal. It utilized the ideas from Senghor's Black nationalist movement, Négritude (founded in the 1930s), and strived to demonstrate that the Black Africans were capable of creating beauty honed within African models. Though based on the model of Western contemporary art the focus was on African expression. Within this framework, the Dakar School developed and artists frequently engaged with state cultural programs, which subsequently influenced both the production and dissemination of their work. Scholars have noted that Senghor's cultural policies helped establish a close relationship between artistic practice and state institutions, with visual arts development occurring within government-supported structures.

The style that later became known as the Dakar School gained significant visibility during the World Festival of Black Arts (French: Festival Mondial des Arts Negres), particularly through the exhibition Tendances et Confrontations curated by Iba N'Diaye. At the World Festival of Black Arts (also known as FESMAN or FMAN), which included participants from more than forty countries and attracted over 25,000 visitors, the festival and its preceding Colloquium on Negro Art provided an internation platform for Léopold Sédar Senghor to present ideas associated with Négritude and his vision of modern African cultural production. The event also helped situate the Dakar School within wider transatlantic Black intellectual and artistic networks, including connections to the Harlem Renaissance and Francophonie Négritude writers such as Aimé Césaire and Alioune Diop.

The National Tapestry Manufacturers in Thiès tapestry weaving facility in the city of Thiès was founded in 1966 by Papa Ibra Tall. National Tapestry Manufacturers in Thiès was a government sponsored and supported by Senghor, and many of the Dakar School artists were involved with their work.

Style

Artists including Iba N'diaye, Papa Ibra Tall, Amadou Ba, Amadou Dede, and Ibou Diouf explore a two-dimensional visual approach that combined African aesthetic traditions with elements of Western avant-garde art, especially abstraction and bold graphic forms. The movement favored warm colors, figurative and abstract representations with references to African aesthetics and mythologies.

List of associated artists

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lack, Jessica (May 19, 2020). Global Art. Thames & Hudson. pp. 33–34, 72–73. ISBN 9780500295243.
  2. 1 2 3 Nzewi, Ugochukwu-Smooth; Fillitz, Thomas (2020). Dak'Art: The Biennale of Dakar and the Making of Contemporary African Art. Routledge. pp. 39–42. ISBN 978-1-000-18245-3.
  3. 1 2 3 Abdou, Sylla (July 2002). "Hommage à L. S. Senghor" [Tribute to LS Senghor]. Ethiopiques no. 69 (in French). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2024 – via Wikiwix.
  4. ↑ Salami, Gitti; Visona, Monica Blackmun (2013). A Companion to Modern African Art. John Wiley & Sons. p. 276. ISBN 978-1-118-51505-1.
  5. ↑ Harney, Elizabeth (2004). In Senghor's Shadow: Art, Politics, and the Avant-Garde in Senegal, 1960–1995. Duke University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-8223-3395-1.
  6. 1 2 3 "Iba Ndiaye, African Modernist Painter, Is Dead at 80". The New York Times. 15 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cohen, Joshua I. (2018). "Locating Senghor's École de Dakar: International and Transnational Dimensions to Senegalese Modern Art, c. 1959–1980". African Arts. 51 (3): 10–25. ISSN 1937-2108. JSTOR 4854746.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Njami, Simon (2007). Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent. Jacana Media. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-77009-363-8.
  9. ↑ Deliss, Clémentine (1995). Seven Stories About Modern Art. Whitechapel Art Gallery. pp. 218–223. ISBN 978-0854881093.
  10. ↑ Blake, Jody. "Cold War Diplomacy and Civil Rights Activism at the First World Festival of Negro Arts". Studies in the History of Art. 71: 46–48. JSTOR 42622532 – via JSTOR.
  11. 1 2 Harney, Elizabeth (2002). "The Ecole de Dakar: Pan-Africanism in Paint and Textile". African Arts. 35 (3): 13–90. ISSN 0001-9933. JSTOR 3337860.
  12. ↑ Ströter-Bender, Jutta (1991). Zeitgenössische Kunst der "Dritten Welt": Äthiopien, Australien (Aboriginals), Indien, Indonesien, Jamaica, Kenia, Nigeria, Senegal und Tanzania (in German). DuMont Buchverlag. p. 244. ISBN 978-3-7701-2665-1.
  13. ↑ Sy, El Hadji (21 March 2000). "Ba, Amadou". Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t096554. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  14. 1 2 "Seydou Barry". Africultures (in French). ISSN 2271-1732. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  15. ↑ Lack, Jessica (2020-05-19). Global Art. Thames & Hudson. pp. 33–34, 72–73. ISBN 9780500295243.
  16. ↑ "Sea Diallo's en Est Allé". SenePlus (in French). 2025-02-03. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gaudibert, Pierre (1994). L'art africain contemporain (in French). Editions Cercle d'art. pp. 59, 65. ISBN 978-2-7022-0386-6 – via Google Books.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (France) (1974). Art sénégalais d'aujourd'hui: exposition Galeries nationales du Grand Palais ... 26 avril–24 juin 1974 (in French). Éditions musées nationaux. pp. 30, 51–52, 55.
  19. 1 2 "Remembering Souleymane Keita". AfricaNAH.org. 2014-07-29. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  20. 1 2 "Abdoulaye Ndoye Dans l'air du temps". Hoop Galerie. Retrieved 2024-12-22.
  21. 1 2 "La Rédaction: Amadou Seck et Philippe Sène, deux figures historiques de l'Ecole de Dakar à la galerie Christophe Person". On Art Media (in French). February 25, 2023. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  22. ↑ Rottenburg, Judith (15 December 2018). "Younousse Seye: The Making of a Pan-African Woman Artist in Post-Independence Senegal". AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  23. ↑ "Amadou Sow Passes Away At 64". Happening!. 30 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2024.
  24. ↑ "Thiam Chérif". Africultures (in French). Retrieved 2024-12-23.
  25. ↑ Jean, Kennedy (1992-07-17). New Currents Ancient Rivers. Smithsonian. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-56098-037-7.