Modern African Art : A Basic Reading List


Western Africa : Cameroon

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Public art in Africa : art et transformations urbaines à Douala = art and urban transformations in Douala / [dirigé par] Iolanda Pensa; avec M. Pucciarelli [and seven others]. Genève: MetisPresses, 2017. 232 pp. Illus. (color) maps, bibliog, pp. 225-227. Text in French and English. N8846.C17 P83 2017 AFA. OCLC 978523844.

The title of this book should be Public art in Cameroon and more specifically in Douala. The art center doual’art, founded in 1991, is a major presence in contemporary Cameroonian art. Its central mission is the community art project that goes beyond the art gallery. Public art and performance art have transformed the city of Douala. The essays in this book celebrate the first 26 years.

Contents: Avant-propos = foreword /Marilyn Douala Bell --Avant-propos/SUD2017, "La place de l'Humain?" = Foreword/SUD2017, "A place for the human dimension?" /Cécile Bourne-Farrell --Introduction/L'oeuvre en projet: le SUD =Introduction/The oeuvre in progress: the SUD /Iolanda Pensa. --DOUAL'ART 1991-2017.La poésie de l'infra-ordinaire. L'esthétique de la reconnaissance dans l'art contemporain africain = The poetics of the infra-ordinary. The aesthetic of recognition in contemporary African art /Elvira Dyangani Ose --Le Salon Urbain de Douala (SUD) = Salon Urbain de Douala (SUD) /Simon Njami --doual'art, pionniers de la rencontre de l'art et de la rue = doual'art, pioneers of the encounter between art and street /Mamadou Jean-Charles Tall --doual'art, et après? = doual'art, what's next? /Berend van der Lans --doual'art, acteur de l'art public en Afrique et au Cameroun = doual'art, an agent for public art in Cameroon and in Africa /Michel Moukouri Edeme --Eke out Art (vivre de son art et fair vivre son art) = Eke out Art /Christian Hanussek --doual'art: de l'importance du Beaujolais et de l'équité dans les relations interculturelles et de coopération = doual'art: the importance of Beaujolais and equity in intercultural relations and cooperation /Yves-Jacques Cabasso --Quand la ville imaginée submerge l'art = When the imagined city overwhelms the art /Elsa Burzynski --La couleur des hommes = The color of men /Koko Komégné --Humaniser la ville = Humanising the city /Hervé Hamguen --L'Arbre à Palabres = The Palaver Tree /Frédéric Keiff --Les Arches du Temps. Signalétique urbaine des sites historiques de la ville de Douala = The Arches of Time. Urban signage of the historical sites of the city of Douala /Sandrine Dole --doual'art--Intervention artistique, passion et vision pour un monde meilleur = doual'art--Artistic intervention, a vision and a passion for a better world /Peter Anders.

Schemmel, Annette. Visual arts in Cameroon: a genealogy of non-formal training, 1976-2014. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG, 2015. 404 pp. illus. (color), bibliog. (p. 379-396). N7399.C3 S34 2015 AFA. OCLC 946292985.

The art world in Cameroon is populated mainly by non-formally trained artists, and it lacks government support throughout most of the postcolonial period. Artists in Cameroon have not received the attention they deserve. Annette Schemmel in this meticulously researched book—based on her PhD dissertation—redresses this lacuna in Cameroonian art history. Non-formal art education is the framework with which Schemmel explores contemporary Cameroonian art. She presents a nuanced evaluation of artists’ training, social networking, collectives and projects, and impacts of globalization from mid-20th century to the present. She dismantles the myth of the ‘self-taught artist’ and emphasizes the collaborative nature of art production in Cameroon. Through numerous interviews with artists, their self-empowerment and local initiatives are shown to be critically important to expanding their art world.