PIASA is organizing a sale of modern and contemporary African art on Wednesday November 15. Comprising 116 lots, the sale features a selection of works produced from the 1900s to the present day by some 70 artists from some 20 countries on the African continent and in the Caribbean.
In particular, the sale features several important groups of works highlighting the art scenes of Senegal, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria. Following in the footsteps of previous auctions, this new sale of African art offers a remarkable panorama of artistic production from the continent and its diasporas. Among the selection are several groups of works illustrating the extraordinary creativity of certain territories.
Senegal is featured through four series of postcards by Abdoulaye Samb (lots 4 to 7), reflecting the early modernity of the early 20th century, half a dozen works by artists from the Dakar School (lots 25 to 32), Ndary Lo (lots 34 & 35), Kassou Seydou (lot 38) and an exceptional piece by El Hadji Sy (lot 33). Dated 1977, the year the artist left the École des Beaux Arts in Dakar, the work is a break with the teaching he received there. Here, he illustrates himself through performative art, in which footprints play an important role. Most of his early works, like this one, were destroyed, in part by the artist, and are therefore very rare on the market.
Lot 27 | ƒ Gora M'Bengue
Untitled, 1975
Estimate : 9000 / 12000€
The South African scene also features prominently in the catalog, with works by artists such as Kay Hassan (lot 61), who uses the collage technique of poster scraps known as "paper constructions" to replace paint, and Gerard Sekoto (lot 64), a pioneer of black art and social realism in his country, with a relatively early canvas dated 1944/45 that has remained in the same collection since its acquisition at that time. More contemporary artists are also present: Dada Khanyisa (lot 69), already very present on the international scene and recently in residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, or Moshekwa Langa (lot 70), also very much in evidence abroad (France, Switzerland, USA...) and whose textile installation presented at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the exhibition Afrique / Le nouvel atelier showed the Parisian public all the artist's poetry.
Lot 38 | Kassou Seydou
African cooker, 2017
Estimate : 22000 / 28000€
There is also an important body of work by artists from the Ghanaian and Nigerian scenes, such as El Anatsui (lot 50), currently featured in the Turbin Hall entrance of the Tate Modern, London, as well as younger talents to watch (lots 54 to 60) such as Wole Lagunju, Wonder Buhle Mbambo, Barry Yusufu, Eric Adjei Tawiah, Kelani Fatai Oladimeji, Onadipe Olumide.
In addition, there are other equally singular scenes, with artists whose renown now extends far beyond national borders: the Tanzanian scene is embodied by three panel paintings by Edward Saidi Tingatinga (lots 20 to 22), the Beninese scene by five works by Cyprien Tokoudagba (lots 15 to 19), who made his name with "Les magiciens de la terre", the Kenyan scene with two mural sculptures by Dickens Otieno (lots 73 & 74), the Ethiopian scene with two talismanic works by Gera and Gedewon (lots 75 & 76), the Sudanese scene with a painting by Salah Elmur (lot 44), a figure of figurative art characteristic of the Karthoum school, and the Congolese scene with a very surprising work by Aimé Mpane, composed of a mosaic of interconnected pieces of wood carved with an adze. This majestic sculpture-like work explores the painful colonial history of the Belgian Congo.
Lot 44 | Salah Elmur
Family day out, 2016
Estimate : 18000 / 25000€
Finally, the sale will feature two works by artists of Algerian origin: a gouache on paper by Algerian artist Baya (Fatma Mahieddine) (lot 43), whose works are highly sought-after by connoisseurs, and who was recently the subject of a retrospective presented at the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Musée de la Vieille Charité in Marseille, and a photographic tryptique by Maya Inès Touam (lot 82), featuring various cultural allusions in a still life style.
Lot 43 | Fatma "Baya" Mahieddine
Untitled, circa 1970
Estimate : 8000 / 12000€
