A Companion to Modern African Art -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- Part I Introduction -- 1 Writing African Modernism into Art History -- Narrations of Modernism and Modernity -- Centering Narratives on Africa's Art Worlds -- Chapter Overview -- Lacunae and Disjunctures -- Notes -- References -- Part II "Africa Has Always Been Modern" -- 2 Local Transformations, Global Inspirations: The Visual Histories and Cultures of Mami Wata Arts in Africa -- Sacred Waters: Ancient and Indigenous Arts for African Water Deities -- Afro-Mami Meets Euro-Mermaid: A Fifteenth-Century Sapi Synthesis -- The Mermaid: A Floating Signifier -- The Double-Tailed Mermaid in the Art of Benin -- Mami Wata and the Image of the Snake Charmer -- The Snake Charmer as Mami Wata in Africa -- Mami Wata and Hindu Gods and Goddesses -- Communicating with Mami Wata: Writing, Reflecting, Calling -- Troubled Waters: From Saint to Sinner -- Notes -- References -- Part III Art in Cosmopolitan Africa: The Nineteenth Century -- 3 Loango Coast Ivories and the Legacies of Afro-Portuguese Arts -- Hybrids at Hello -- Contact and Catastrophe -- Afro-Portuguese Ivories -- The Loango Ivories -- "Authenticity": Drawing the Line -- Pointed Imagery -- More Animal Tales -- Double-Take -- Notes -- References -- 4 Roots and Routes of African Photographic Practices: From Modern to Vernacular Photography in West and Central Africa (1850-1980) -- "COME ONE! COME ALL! and secure the shadow ere it fades" -- Toward a History of Photography in West and Central Africa -- Pioneer Photographers and Their Customers along the West and Central African Coasts -- From Monrovia to Libreville: The Careers of Several African Pioneer Photographers -- The Democratization of Photography: The Case of Fumban, Cameroon -- Notes -- References.

5 At Home in the World: Portrait Photography and Swahili Mercantile Aesthetics -- "Modernity" in African Art History -- Challenging "Modernity" and "Place" on the Swahili Coast -- Photography and the Colonial Moment -- A Swahili Culture of Things -- Portrait Photographs as Objects -- Modernity on the Edge -- Notes -- References -- 6 African Reimaginations: Presence, Absence, and New Way Architecture -- The Scenario for a New History of the Modern -- The Palace and the Mosque -- Lacuna and History -- Removals and Reinstallations -- Invisibility and Difference -- Last Word: The Lines of a Future Argument -- Notes -- References -- Part IV Modernities and Cross-Cultural Encounters in Arts of the Early Twentieth Century -- 7 "One of the Best Tools for Learning": Rethinking the Role of 'Abduh's Fatwa in Egyptian Art History -- Introduction -- Art, Islam, and the Imam -- An Insightful Traveler's Observations -- "And They Do Not Spare Any Effort in Preserving These Things" -- Al-Suwar wa-l-Tamathil: A Fatwa without Fine Arts -- Between the Educational and the Legal -- The Fatwa's Five Parts -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 8 Congolese and Belgian Appropriations of the Colonial Era: The Commissioned Work of Tshelantende (Djilatendo) and Its Reception -- Overview -- Tshelantende's Personal History -- His Oeuvre -- Reception History -- Notes -- References -- 9 Warriors in Top Hats: Images of Modernity and Military Power on West African Coasts -- Evidence for Top Hats and Global Trade in the 1860s-1890s -- The Bissagos Islands -- The Niger Delta -- The Lagoons -- Top Hats as Transfers of Technology -- Notes -- References -- Part V Colonialism, Modernism, and Art in Independent Nations -- 10 Algerian Painters as Pioneers of Modernism -- French Colonialism and Its Impact on Algerian Art -- "Parsimonious" Inclusion of Algerians in the Colonial Arts Scene.

The First Algerian Painters, 1920s and 1930s -- The Racims and Miniaturist Painting -- Algerian Artists and European Orientalists - 1940s -- Female Algerian Artists -- The Algerian Revolution, Independence, and Modern Art -- Postindependence Phase -- Artists and the Algerian Civil War 1991-2002 -- Painting and Contemporary Trends in Algerian Art -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 11 Kofi Antubam, 1922-1964: A Modern Ghanaian Artist, Educator, and Writer -- Introduction -- The Formative Years of Kofi Antubam -- Institutional History, from Achimota to "Kumasi Realism" -- Kofi Antubam as an Educator -- Kofi Antubam as a Writer -- The Lasting Impact of Antubam's Art -- Notes -- References -- 12 Patron and Artist in the Shaping of Zimbabwean Art -- The Mission Workshops -- Stone Sculpture: McEwen and the First Generation 1960-1973 -- Majority Rule and the Second Generation -- Notes -- References -- 13 "Being Modern": Identity Debates and Makerere's Art School in the 1960s -- The Art School in Transition -- Two Dominant Colonial Views of Africans -- Debates on Makerere Campus -- African Literature or Literature from Africa? -- Art: Debate on the Margin -- A Twofold Task -- Notes -- References -- 14 The École des Arts and Exhibitionary Platforms in Postindependence Senegal -- Making Modern Art at the École des Arts du Sénégal -- New Art and Artists for a New Nation -- Modern Art in the Narrative Frame of Négritude -- Notes -- References -- 15 From Iconoclasm to Heritage: The Osogbo Art Movement and the Dynamics of Modernism in Nigeria -- Introduction -- When Even Statues Die: Revitalizing African Art -- Newness and Rupture: The Osogbo Art School -- Multiplying the New: Branding Osogbo Art -- Reframing the New: Heritage -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 16 Modernism and Modernity in African Art -- Exhibiting Africa -- When Was Contemporary Art?.

So When Was Modernity? -- Indigo-Dyed Textiles and Yoruba Modernity -- Bruce Onobrakpeya, Painter and Printmaker -- In Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 17 A Century of Painting in the Congo: Image, Memory, Experience, and Knowledge -- Introduction -- Figurative Drawings on the External Walls of Village Houses -- Pictures on Canvas -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part VI Perspectives on Arts of the African Diaspora -- 18 Visual Expressivity in the Art of the Black Diaspora: Conjunctures and Disjunctures -- Introduction -- Globalizing the Canon -- African Art and History -- Art and the Black Diaspora: The United States -- Migration, Transnationalism, and the Black Diaspora -- Transnationalism and Intercontinental Dialogs -- Transnationalism: Making Space -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Part VII Syntheses in Art of the Late Twentieth Century -- 19 Art and Social Dynamics in Côte d'Ivoire: The Position of Vohou-Vohou -- Spirit: The Narrative of Its Origins -- Connections and Quarrels -- The Ferment of Culture and Sociopolitical Dynamics -- Notes -- References -- 20 Contemporary Contradictions: Bronzecasting in the Edo Kingdom of Benin -- Modern Precursors: Influential Artists during the Reign of Oba Akenzua II, 1933-1978 -- Contemporary Artists in Benin since the 1980s -- Notes -- References -- 21 Puppets as Witnesses and Perpetrators in Ubu and the Truth Commission -- Introduction -- Historical Background -- Theoretical and Critical Issues -- Showcasing Ubu and the Truth Commission -- Concluding Remarks -- Notes -- References -- 22 Moroccan Art Museums and Memories of Modernity -- What Museum for Art? Frames and Questions -- A Short History of National Museums in Morocco -- The Intertwined History of Emancipatory Modernity and Modern Art in Morocco -- Working through and Remembering Modernist Projects.

Confronting the Modern Image and Images of Modernity -- Rural Spaces and Nomadic Curation -- Conclusions -- Notes -- References -- Part VIII Primitivism as Erasure -- 23 The Enduring Power of Primitivism: Showcasing "the Other" in Twenty-First-Century France -- The Exterior: Architecture and Landscaping -- The Interior: Layout and Lighting -- Artists' Names -- Artists' Voices -- The Collection History of Exhibited Objects -- Aesthetics and Ethnography -- Admissions and Other Practicalities -- How Did All This Happen? -- Notes -- References -- Part IX Local Expression and Global Modernity: African Art of the Twenty-First Century -- 24 Zwelethu Mthethwa's "Postdocumentary" Portraiture: Views from South Africa and Abroad -- Mthethwa in the Context of Documentary-Style Photography and Afrapix -- Mthethwa's Pastel Paintings in the Context of Township Art -- Mthethwa's "Postdocumentary" Photography in a Transcultural World -- Notes -- References -- 25 Creative Diffusion: African Intersections in the Biennale Network -- Introduction -- Examples and Exemplars -- Networking -- Diaspora, Pan-Africanity, and Practicality -- African Intersections -- Notes -- References -- 26 Lacuna: Uganda in a Globalizing Cultural Field -- The Case of Uganda: An Art World Lacuna -- Some Sketches of Contemporary Ugandan Practice -- The Connected, Disconnected, and Never Connected -- Notes -- References -- 27 Painted Visions under Rebel Domination: A Cultural Center and Political Imagination in Northern Côte d'Ivoire -- Introduction -- Picture, Image, Imagery, and Imagination -- Korhogo as the Heart of Senufoland -- The Katana Festival and the Foundation of the Cultural Center -- From Katana to Fofié Kouakou Martin's Cultural Center -- 2006 - Sapéro de Farafina and the First Image Program at Womiengnon -- Picturing the Experience of the Past -- Imageries of a Better Future.

The Renewal of 2009.