This pioneering history examines the major themes and accomplishments in African art from the past fifty years, achieving an impressive balance between the critical reexamination of frequently discussed artists, groups and workshops and the introduction of less publicized or more recent material. Postcolonial art in Africa has built seamlessly upon already existing structures in which the older, precolonial and colonial genres of African art were made. It is in this sense, and in the habits and attitudes of artists towards making art, rather than in any adherence to a particular style, medium, technique, or thematic range, that the art is recognizably African. Beginning in the early 1950s, the transformations in patronage, training and literacy brought about the birth of new genres which have been propelled onto a world stage. This critical history examines the major themes and accomplishments in African art from the past fifty years, achieving an impressive balance between the critical reexamination of frequently discussed artists, groups, and workshops and the introduction of less publicized or more recent material. Author has taught, curated, and carried out extensive filed research in Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya, and has made briefer research trips to nine other African countries for her research.
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