San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show

Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavillion, 2 Marina Blvd: San Francisco, United States

February 21, 2020 - February 23, 2020 Fair February 21, 2020 February 23, 2020 Europe/London San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavillion, 2 Marina Blvd: San Francisco, United States

Objects of Art LLC is proud to announce the acquisition of the treasured San Francisco Tribal and Textile Art Show, the leading Tribal art fair showcasing the arts of tribal cultures and indigenous peoples of the Americas, Asia, Oceania, Polynesia, the Middle East and Africa. Originally developed by the team of Caskey Lees, the San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art show presents over 80 national and international galleries, displaying museum-quality objects and artifacts in visually striking settings perfect for browsing by tribal art collectors, first-time guests and enthusiasts. This show presents the rare opportunity to find that unique object that you can bring home and enjoy.

1-54 Marrakech

La Mamounia, Palace Avenue Bab Jdid: Marrakech, Morocco

February 20, 2020 - February 23, 2020 Fair February 20, 2020 February 23, 2020 Europe/London 1-54 Marrakech La Mamounia, Palace Avenue Bab Jdid: Marrakech, Morocco

1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founding by Touria El Glaoui, the fair holds annual editions in London since 2013, New York since 2015 and Marrakech since 2018. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time

Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Drive: Toronto, Canada

September 21, 2019 - February 23, 2020 Exhibition September 21, 2019 February 23, 2020 Europe/London Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time Aga Khan Museum, 77 Wynford Drive: Toronto, Canada

Journey along the Sahara Desert’s trade routes during a time when West African gold directly impacted and connected peoples and cultures, arts and beliefs across continents. Experience the first major exhibition to reveal the shared history of West Africa, North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe from the 8th to 16th centuries and see more than 250 artworks, many shown in North America for the first time.

NOW LOOK HERE – The African Art of Appearance

Amsterdam North. Asterweg 17: Amsterdam, Netherlands

January 25, 2020 - February 23, 2020 Exhibition January 25, 2020 February 23, 2020 Europe/London NOW LOOK HERE – The African Art of Appearance Amsterdam North. Asterweg 17: Amsterdam, Netherlands

NOW LOOK HERE – The African Art of Appearance in Amsterdam North will present the work of eighteen African artists who use outward appearances to tell a deeply rooted story. They upend perceptions of Africa through the use of irony, beauty and style.

African Art at the Van Buuren Museum

Van Buuren Museum, Avenue Léo Errera/Léo Erreralaan 41: Brussels, Belgium

January 19, 2020 - March 01, 2020 Exhibition January 19, 2020 March 01, 2020 Europe/London African Art at the Van Buuren Museum Van Buuren Museum, Avenue Léo Errera/Léo Erreralaan 41: Brussels, Belgium

It is on the initiative of Isabelle Anspach, curator of the Van Buuren Museum, that this emblematic home of Art Deco will host its very first exhibition of African art. Didier Claes, Vice-President of Brafa and curator of the exhibition, presents us with a remarkable and expertly chosen selection of major African works of art so in tune with the soul of the museum that they create an expressive connection that is nothing short of stunning. The beauty and astounding quality of the masks and sculptures on display all come from two Belgian collections.

Zemanek-Münster 96th Tribal Art Auction

Hörleingasse 3-5 D-97070: Wurzburg, Germany

March 07, 2020 - March 07, 2020 Auction March 07, 2020 March 07, 2020 Europe/London Zemanek-Münster 96th Tribal Art Auction Hörleingasse 3-5 D-97070: Wurzburg, Germany

Fine old Tribal Art from Africa, Australia, Oceania, Asia and America. The Stockholm Tribal Art Collection of Peter Willborg (special catalogue). Art works from Africa and Oceania from the Swiss private collection of Walter Stanley Schwab. Pre-Columbian ceramics from the German private collection of Anna Maria Posset.

TEFAF Maastricht

Forum 100, 6229 GV: Maastricht, The Netherlands

March 07, 2020 - March 15, 2020 Fair March 07, 2020 March 15, 2020 Europe/London TEFAF Maastricht Forum 100, 6229 GV: Maastricht, The Netherlands

TEFAF Maastricht is widely regarded as the world's premier fair for art, antiques and design. Featuring 275 prestigious dealers from some 20 countries, TEFAF Maastricht is a showcase for the finest art works currently on the market. Alongside the traditional areas of Old Master paintings, antiques and classical antiquities that cover approximately half of the fair, you can also find modern and contemporary art, photographs, jewelry, 20th century design and works on paper.

Fiction Congo

Gablerstrasse 15, 8002: Zürich, Switzerland

November 22, 2019 - March 15, 2020 Exhibition November 22, 2019 March 15, 2020 Europe/London Fiction Congo Gablerstrasse 15, 8002: Zürich, Switzerland

Up to the present day, the Congo serves as a screen for the projection of Western as well as African ideas and fictions. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is famous for its vibrant art scene. Nowhere else in Africa is artistic creativity so diverse, inventive, and at the pulse of time. Still, in the past, too, people in the Congo brought forth impressive masks, figures, and designer pieces, many of which today rank as icons of African art. For the first time, the exhibition presents objects and photographs brought back from the Congo in 1938/39 by the art ethnologist Hans Himmelheber: colourful masks, powerful figures and artfully designed everyday objects. This contrasts with contemporary positions of renowned Congolese artists.

Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art

34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

March 25, 2020 - March 25, 2020 Auction March 25, 2020 March 25, 2020 Europe/London Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art 34-35 New Bond Street: London, United Kingdom

Since the inauguration of the dedicated sales of Modern and Contemporary African Art in 2017, Sotheby’s sales in the category have achieved over sixty world records, championing the work of artists from across the African diaspora and underscoring the rising global interest. As market leaders in the field, Sotheby’s sales of Modern and Contemporary African Art champion the work of artists from across the African continent, and our upcoming auction includes a specially curated collection of paintings, photographs, drawings and sculpture from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Striking Iron. The Art of African Blacksmiths

37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

November 19, 2019 - March 29, 2020 Exhibition November 19, 2019 March 29, 2020 Europe/London Striking Iron. The Art of African Blacksmiths 37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

Very few places in the world have such a strong connection to iron as Sub-Saharan Africa. For over two millennia, the forging of one of the planet’s most fundamental materials has revolutionised the continent and profoundly shaped its communities and cultures, from fields to homes and from battlefields to religious sites. Under the hammer of African blacksmiths, masters of fire and virtuosos of transformation, the metal is cast, forged, beaten then metamorphosed into tools, or in some cases vested with social and spiritual power, always with incredible artistic sensitivity. "Striking Iron. The Art of African Blacksmiths" presents the vast diversity of forms and traditions surrounding iron in different regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. 230 pieces produced between the 17th century and the modern-day, ranging from wood sculptures to currencies in a myriad of shapes and sizes, diverse musical instruments, weapons and prestigious objects, all attesting to the talent and technical sophistication of African blacksmiths, figures that are equally venerated and feared.

PAD Paris

Jardin des Tuileries: Paris, France

April 01, 2020 - April 05, 2020 Fair April 01, 2020 April 05, 2020 Europe/London PAD Paris Jardin des Tuileries: Paris, France

PAD, pioneering event for Art and Design aficionados and collectors, has been reinventing for the past 20 years the Cabinet d’Amateur and the notion of eclecticism, anticipating the aesthetic aspirations of its time. Season after season, it offers an intimate cocoon to those who have made decorative arts and design the core of their collection, driven by passion and heritage. Every edition evolves in aim to create an unprecedented dialogue between modern art, historical and contemporary design and jewellery. This year will give greater room to Primitive Art, and will highlight the vitality of raising such perspectives. The engaging aspect of PAD is its invitation to enter a personal collection, conceived by a selection of local and international art dealers – all of whom are leaders in their fields, eager to address each passionate collector in a unique manner. In this salon, mind is enlivened and imagination is exhilarated, as entering a place where the contemporary taste for 20th and 21st Century decorative art is born.

Christie’s Art d’Afrique, d’Océanie et d’Amérique du Nord

9 Avenue Matignon: Paris, France

April 08, 2020 - April 08, 2020 Auction April 08, 2020 April 08, 2020 Europe/London Christie’s Art d’Afrique, d’Océanie et d’Amérique du Nord 9 Avenue Matignon: Paris, France

African Cosmologies—Photography, Time, and the Other

2000 Edwards Street, Building C, Suite 2, Texas: Houston, United States

March 08, 2020 - April 19, 2020 Fair March 08, 2020 April 19, 2020 Europe/London African Cosmologies—Photography, Time, and the Other 2000 Edwards Street, Building C, Suite 2, Texas: Houston, United States

The FotoFest Biennial 2020 marks the first time in its 37-year history that the Biennial’s central exhibition will focus on artists of African origin. African Cosmologies will feature over 30 artists from across the continent and its diaspora, making it one of the world’s largest exhibitions of African photography.

1-54 New York

The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26th Street: New York, United States

May 08, 2020 - May 10, 2020 Fair May 08, 2020 May 10, 2020 Europe/London 1-54 New York The Caldwell Factory, 547 West 26th Street: New York, United States

1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founding by Touria El Glaoui, the fair holds annual editions in London since 2013, New York since 2015 and Marrakech since 2018. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange.

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara

1000 Fifth Avenue, NY 10028: New York, United States

January 30, 2020 - May 10, 2020 Exhibition January 30, 2020 May 10, 2020 Europe/London Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara 1000 Fifth Avenue, NY 10028: New York, United States

From the first millennium, the Sahel—a vast area in Africa just south of the Sahara Desert that spans what is today Senegal, Mali, Mauretania, and Niger—was the birthplace of a succession of influential polities. Fueled by a network of global trade routes extending across the region, the empires of Ghana (300–1200), Mali (1230–1600), Songhay (1464–1591), and Bamana (1640–1861) cultivated an enormously rich material culture. Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara will be the first exhibition of its kind to trace the legacy of those mighty states and what they produced in the visual arts. The presentation will bring into focus transformative developments—such as the rise and fall of political dynasties, and the arrival of Islam—through some 150 objects, including sculptures in wood, stone, fired clay, and bronze; objects in gold and cast metal; woven and dyed textiles; and illuminated manuscripts.

TEFAF New York Spring

Park Avenue Armory: New York, United States

May 08, 2020 - May 12, 2020 Fair May 08, 2020 May 12, 2020 Europe/London TEFAF New York Spring Park Avenue Armory: New York, United States

As the world's most buoyant art market, New York City provides the ideal context for a TEFAF Fair outside Maastricht. We are proud to present the second edition of TEFAF New York Spring, with a focus on modern and contemporary art and design. The Fair’s timing in early May is intended to coincide with auctions, exhibitions, and other fairs in New York dedicated to modern and contemporary art and design. The historic Park Avenue Armory provides the prime Manhattan location and setting for the world’s leading art dealers to meet with curators and collectors.

Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present

Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS-480, Texas: Houston, United States

January 24, 2020 - May 16, 2020 Exhibition January 24, 2020 May 16, 2020 Europe/London Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present Rice University, 6100 Main Street, MS-480, Texas: Houston, United States

Radical Revisionists: Contemporary African Artists Confronting Past and Present features works by artists from Africa and the Diaspora who problematize Eurocentric tropes of race, representation and prevailing colonial narratives. The exhibition addresses the violent erasure of marginalised histories and the ways in which artists reinterpret familiar themes through contemporary, Afrocentric lenses. As the rich resources of the African continent continue to be coveted by powers around the globe, the selected works, including photography, mixed media, virtual reality, sculpture, and a site-specific installation, speak to the ways in which outside interventions have deeply affected both the people and the landscape. Featured artists include Sammy Baloji, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Omar Victor Diop, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Zanele Muholi, Robin Rhode, Yinka Shonibare CBE, Mary Sibande, and Pascale Marthine Tayou.

Now with us! Voodoo

Steine ​​1-2, D-31134: Hildesheim, Germany

October 19, 2019 - May 17, 2020 Exhibition October 19, 2019 May 17, 2020 Europe/London Now with us! Voodoo Steine ​​1-2, D-31134: Hildesheim, Germany

The voodoo religions surround a touch of mysticism and exoticism. Many people associate voodoo with needle puppets and zombies. The reality is much more complex. In fact, the voodoo religions are centuries old and have a comprehensive and abstract theological foundation. They can be traced back to the Yoruba religion in Nigeria and possibly even further back to the ancient civilizations in the northeast of the African continent. Today, as the religion is called in Africa, Vodun is mainly distributed in Benin, Ghana and Togo. Through the slave trade, West Africans arrived in the Caribbean and on the American mainland and with them their beliefs, which in the colonies mingled with Christianity and indigenous religions of America. Especially in Haiti, a separate voodoo variant was formed. But also in Cuba, Brazil and the US there are African-American religions, which are strongly influenced by Vodun and Yoruba. The exhibition is a world premiere and shows for the first time these religions on both sides of the Atlantic in their entirety. On two floors, we present almost 1,200 objects.

Bourgogne Tribal Show

Galerie Bruno Mory, Besanceuil F-71460: Bonnay, France

May 21, 2020 - May 24, 2020 Fair May 21, 2020 May 24, 2020 Europe/London Bourgogne Tribal Show Galerie Bruno Mory, Besanceuil F-71460: Bonnay, France

The Burgundy Tribal Show is the first international tribal art fair to be held in the countryside. In a rural setting, and a relaxed atmosphere conducive to discovery, the Burgundy Tribal Show offers its audience a distinctly different experience.

African Brilliance: A Diplomat’s Sixty Years of Collecting

Palmer Museum of Art, Curtin Road, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802-2507: Pennsylvania, United States

February 08, 2020 - May 24, 2020 Exhibition February 08, 2020 May 24, 2020 Europe/London African Brilliance: A Diplomat’s Sixty Years of Collecting Palmer Museum of Art, Curtin Road, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802-2507: Pennsylvania, United States

'African Brilliance: A Diplomat’s Sixty Years of Collecting' presents a wide-ranging selection of African art from the notable collection amassed by Ambassador Allen Davis. His long career with the U.S. State Department afforded him the opportunity to build an outstanding collection representing many of the key cultures of East, Central, and West Africa. The exhibition features eighty-three objects by twentieth-century African artists from a variety of cultures across the continent, including the Dan people of Liberia, the Mossi and Lobi peoples of Burkina Faso, the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali, the Akan peoples of Ghana, and the Kuba peoples of Democratic Republic of the Congo, among others. The works include carved and decorated wooden sculptures, natural fibre and beaded textiles, metalwork, and ceramic pots that represent household, community, and ritual practices.

Migrating Objects: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, I-30123: Venice, Italy

February 15, 2020 - June 14, 2020 Exhibition February 15, 2020 June 14, 2020 Europe/London Migrating Objects: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, I-30123: Venice, Italy

Peggy Guggenheim challenged boundaries as a patron and collector and is celebrated for her groundbreaking European and American modern art collection. Migrating Objects: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection focuses on a lesser-known, but crucial episode in Guggenheim’s collecting: her turn in the 1950s and ’60s to works created by artists in Africa, Oceania, and the indigenous Americas. Migrating Objects represents a remarkable occasion to view 35 rarely seen non-Western artworks Guggenheim collected, shown at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection as a cohesive whole for the first time.

Adorned: African Women & the Art of Identity

The Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

December 11, 2019 - June 19, 2020 Exhibition December 11, 2019 June 19, 2020 Europe/London Adorned: African Women & the Art of Identity The Baltimore Museum of Art 10 Art Museum Drive, MD, 21218: Baltimore, United States

Across sub-Saharan Africa, a strict gendered division of artistic labour existed throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Men worked in wood and metal, carving and casting works that glorified leaders and paid homage to deities, while women created works in clay, cloth, and beads, stitching and firing the art of everyday life. This exhibition brings together two dozen works from the BMA's collection to demonstrate the critical role of women in shaping and maintaining social identities across 20th-century Africa.

Helena Rubinstein. Madame’s Collection

37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

November 19, 2019 - June 28, 2020 Exhibition November 19, 2019 June 28, 2020 Europe/London Helena Rubinstein. Madame’s Collection 37 Quai Branly, 75007: Paris, France

An extraordinary figure, the first 20th-century businesswoman, a self-made and emancipated woman, a visionary... There is no shortage of superlatives to describe the incredible rise to fame of Helena Rubinstein (1870-1965), dubbed the Empress of beauty by Cocteau, but her role as an experienced collector and a pioneer in the recognition of African and Oceanic arts in Europe and North America is often overlooked. Primarily amassed in Paris through her various encounters, "Madame’s collection", now dispersed, comprised over 400 pieces of non-European art including precious Kota and Fang reliquary guardians, exceptional Baoulé, Bamana, Senoufo and Dogon pieces. The exhibition places the spotlight on her passion for non-Western arts - primarily African art - through sixty pieces, as well as her fascination for their expressive intensity and character.

Dak’Art – Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain

19 Avenue Hassan II: Dakar, Senegal

May 28, 2020 - June 28, 2020 Fair May 28, 2020 June 28, 2020 Europe/London Dak’Art – Biennale de l’Art Africain Contemporain 19 Avenue Hassan II: Dakar, Senegal

The Dakar Biennale, or Dak'Art - Biennale de l'Art Africain Contemporain, is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Dakar, Senegal. The Dakar Biennale was conceived in 1989 as a biennale alternating between literature and art. The biennale has been created thanks to the will of both the Senegalese state which assumes the supervision and the local artists who since the seventies, have been organising regular annual art exhibitions which bring to light the different shapes of the evolution of contemporary art creation. The aim was to make of it a show-window of art and literature in Africa.

Masterpiece London

South Grounds, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3 4LW: London, United Kingdom

June 25, 2020 - July 01, 2020 Fair June 25, 2020 July 01, 2020 Europe/London Masterpiece London South Grounds, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, SW3 4LW: London, United Kingdom

Masterpiece London is the unmissable art fair at which visitors can view and buy the finest works of art, design, furniture and jewellery - from antiquity to the present day. The Fair offers an unparalleled opportunity for new and established collectors to discover exceptional works for sale across a range of price points from 160 international exhibitors and across every major market discipline.

I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

June 20, 2019 - July 05, 2020 Exhibition June 20, 2019 July 05, 2020 Europe/London I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Taking its name from a 1970’s feminist anthem, I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa draws upon a selection of artworks by women artists from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection to reveal a more contemporary feminism that recognizes the contributions of women to the most pressing issues of their times. With experimental and sophisticated use of diverse media, the 27 featured artists offer insightful and visually stunning approaches to matters of community, faith, the environment, politics, colonial encounters, racism, identity, and more.

Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond

The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street: New York, United States

March 22, 2020 - July 25, 2020 Exhibition March 22, 2020 July 25, 2020 Europe/London Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street: New York, United States

The Museum of Modern Art announces Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond, the first exhibition devoted to the influential French art critic, editor, publisher, dealer, and collector Félix Fénéon (1861–1944), on view from March 22 through July 25, 2020. Though largely unknown today and always discreetly behind the scenes in his own era, Fénéon played a key role in the careers of leading artists from Georges Seurat and Paul Signac to Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse, each of whom is featured prominently in the exhibition. Félix Fénéon: The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde—From Signac to Matisse and Beyond traces Fénéon’s career through approximately 150 works that highlight his initiatives to help artists via his reviews, exhibitions, and acquisitions; his commitment to anarchism; his literary engagements; and his contributions to the recognition of non-Western art. Bringing together a selection of major works that Fénéon admired, championed, and collected, alongside contemporary letters, documents, and photographs, the exhibition underscores the tremendous impact he had on the development of modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS: London, United Kingdom

March 26, 2020 - July 26, 2020 Exhibition March 26, 2020 July 26, 2020 Europe/London Toyin Ojih Odutola: A Countervailing Theory Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS: London, United Kingdom

The first-ever UK exhibition by Nigerian-American artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, this epic cycle of new work will explore an imagined ancient myth, with an immersive soundscape by artist Peter Adjaye. Toyin Ojih Odutola, recognising the pen as a ‘writing tool first’, plays with the idea that drawing can be a form of storytelling. Working exclusively with drawing materials including pastel and charcoal, she approaches her process of drawing as an investigative practice. Ojih Odutola proposes speculative fictions, inviting the viewer to enter her vision of an uncannily familiar yet fantastical world. Drawing on an eclectic range of references, from ancient history to popular culture to contemporary politics, Ojih Odutola encourages the viewer to piece together the fragments of the stories that she presents.

Ancestors in Stone

NOMA, One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park: New Orleans, United States

August 16, 2019 - July 27, 2020 Exhibition August 16, 2019 July 27, 2020 Europe/London Ancestors in Stone NOMA, One Collins C. Diboll Circle, City Park: New Orleans, United States

Among African cultures, deceased ancestors remain important members of the community who are revered in the afterlife. They are venerated by surviving family and community members who ask for divine intercession from their forebears in matters related to wealth, fertility, and agricultural prosperity. This exhibition focuses on NOMA’s recently acquired akwanshi stone monolith from the Cross River region of Nigeria, supported with figures and objects rendered in part or whole in stone from other regions of West Africa. The show speaks to the significance of stone as both a natural element and a significant material in the veneration of ancestors. Although carved stones represent ancestors, uncarved stones may also represent ancestors. Such characteristics suggest the importance of stone to this and other African cultures.

Summer Exhibition 2020

Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD: London, United Kingdom

June 09, 2020 - August 16, 2020 Exhibition June 09, 2020 August 16, 2020 Europe/London Summer Exhibition 2020 Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W1J 0BD: London, United Kingdom

The Summer Exhibition has run without interruption since 1769 and we don’t intend to break that streak in 2020. It is the world’s largest open submission art show, and anyone can apply to enter. Each year, a committee of diverse artists choose an array of art in all mediums – prints and paintings, film and photography, sculpture, architectural works and more – for everyone and anyone to enjoy. You’ll see work by leading artists, Royal Academicians and household names, as well as new and emerging talent you might not know. So, explore art you love, art you hate, and art that simply puts a smile on your face.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG: London, United Kingdom

May 19, 2020 - August 31, 2020 Exhibition May 19, 2020 August 31, 2020 Europe/London Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG: London, United Kingdom

The first major survey of the celebrated London-based painter. Widely considered to be one of the most important painters of her generation, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. Her paintings often allude to historic European portraiture – notably Francisco de Goya, John Singer Sargent and Édouard Manet – yet in subject matter and technique, her approach is decidedly contemporary. Through her focus on the depiction of imagined black characters, Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings raise important questions of identity and representation. This exhibition will bring together over 80 paintings and works on paper from 2003 to the present day in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.

Tribal Art London

The Mall Galleries: London, United Kingdom

September 02, 2020 - September 06, 2020 Fair September 02, 2020 September 06, 2020 Europe/London Tribal Art London The Mall Galleries: London, United Kingdom

Tribal Art London is the only Tribal Art Fair of its kind in the UK, showcasing a select group of exhibitors displaying tribal art from around the world. Each piece has been chosen for its quality and authenticity.

Parcours des Mondes

Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Paris, France

September 08, 2020 - September 13, 2020 Fair September 08, 2020 September 13, 2020 Europe/London Parcours des Mondes Saint-Germain-des-Prés: Paris, France

Parcours des Mondes is widely recognized as the world’s most important tribal art fair due to the quality and diversity of its participants. Since 2002, each year it has brought together some sixty galleries specializing in the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

PAD London

Berkeley Square: London, United Kingdom

October 05, 2020 - October 11, 2020 Fair October 05, 2020 October 11, 2020 Europe/London PAD London Berkeley Square: London, United Kingdom

Set in the vibrant heart of Mayfair, PAD is London’s leading fair for 20th Century art, design and decorative arts. Inspiring a unique spirit of collecting, PAD epitomises how modern art, photography, design, decorative and tribal arts interact to reveal astonishing combinations and create the most individual and staggering interiors. Prominent international galleries from major cities across Europe, North America and Asia come together to offer an exceptional panorama of the most coveted and iconic works available on the market today. PAD is a place to discover and acquire pieces of museum quality with a distinct history. PAD cultivates eclecticism, authenticity and connoisseurship with passion and flair.

Frieze Masters

Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

October 08, 2020 - October 11, 2020 Fair October 08, 2020 October 11, 2020 Europe/London Frieze Masters Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

Frieze Masters features more than 130 leading modern and historical galleries from around the world, showcasing art from the ancient era and Old Masters to the late 20th century.

1-54 London

Somerset House, South Wing Strand: London, United Kingdom

October 08, 2020 - October 11, 2020 Fair October 08, 2020 October 11, 2020 Europe/London 1-54 London Somerset House, South Wing Strand: London, United Kingdom

1-54 is the first leading international art fair dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Founding by Touria El Glaoui, the fair holds annual editions in London since 2013, New York since 2015 and Marrakech since 2018. Drawing reference to the fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, 1-54 is a sustainable and dynamic platform that is engaged in contemporary dialogue and exchange.

Frieze London

Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

October 08, 2020 - October 11, 2020 Fair October 08, 2020 October 11, 2020 Europe/London Frieze London Regent’s Park: London, United Kingdom

Frieze London features more than 160 of the world’s leading galleries. View and buy art from over 1,000 of today’s leading artists, and experience the fair’s critically acclaimed curated sections and Talks programme.

Zanele Muholi

Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG: London, United Kingdom

April 29, 2020 - October 18, 2020 Exhibition April 29, 2020 October 18, 2020 Europe/London Zanele Muholi Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1 9TG: London, United Kingdom

Tate Modern presents the first major mid-career survey of visual activist Zanele Muholi in the UK. Born in South Africa, Muholi came to prominence in the early 2000s with photographs that sought to envision black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives beyond deviance or victimhood. Muholi’s work challenges hetero-patriarchal ideologies and representations, presenting the participants in their photographs as confident and beautiful individuals bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance and, frequently, violence. While Muholi’s intimate photographs of others launched their international career, their intense self-portraits solidified it. This exhibition will present the full breadth of Muholi’s photographic and activist practice.

El Anatsui. Triumphant Scale

Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Avenida Abandoibarra, 2 48009 : Bilbao, Spain

July 17, 2020 - November 01, 2020 Exhibition July 17, 2020 November 01, 2020 Europe/London El Anatsui. Triumphant Scale Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Avenida Abandoibarra, 2 48009 : Bilbao, Spain

The practice of El Anatsui (b. 1944, Anyako, Ghana), possibly the most prominent African artist today, exemplifies a neverending search for models that offer an alternative to the modernist canons of purity. This retrospective will be the most ambitious ever presented of Anatsui’s career and will cover all the series and mediums used by the artist over five decades of work. The exhibition pays special attention to the most monumental aspect of Anatsui’s sculptures, through emblematic pieces created over the past twenty years with plastic bottle caps as a fundamental component.

TEFAF New York Fall

Park Avenue Armory: New York, United States

October 31, 2020 - November 04, 2020 Fair October 31, 2020 November 04, 2020 Europe/London TEFAF New York Fall Park Avenue Armory: New York, United States

As the world's most buoyant art market, New York City provides the ideal context for a TEFAF Fair outside Maastricht, and allows a vital, transatlantic meeting ground for a global community of dealers, collectors, curators, interior designers and art-and-antiques enthusiasts. We are proud to present TEFAF New York Fall, with a focus on fine and decorative arts from antiquity to 1920.

ART X Lagos

The Civic Centre, Victoria Island: Lagos, Nigeria

November 06, 2020 - November 08, 2020 Fair November 06, 2020 November 08, 2020 Europe/London ART X Lagos The Civic Centre, Victoria Island: Lagos, Nigeria

ART X Lagos is West Africa’s premier international art fair, designed to showcase the best and most innovative contemporary art from the African continent and its Diaspora. Launched in 2016, the art fair has since become a cornerstone of the Lagos art calendar, drawing local patrons and a host of international collectors, curators, and critics annually.

100 x Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp

MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Hanseatic city 1: Antwerp, Belgium

June 19, 2020 - November 11, 2020 Exhibition June 19, 2020 November 11, 2020 Europe/London 100 x Congo: A Century of Congolese Art in Antwerp MAS | Museum aan de Stroom, Hanseatic city 1: Antwerp, Belgium

In 2020 it will be exactly one hundred years ago that Antwerp, in full colonial time, acquired its Congolese museum collection. What are the stories behind the Congolese objects? And how did they end up in the port city? The exhibition focuses on a hundred unique Congolese works and examines their significance for various Congolese peoples. You learn about the impact of Christian missions on Congolese culture and about the view of Congolese people on the 'white' (global).

African Arts—Global Conversations

Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

February 14, 2020 - November 15, 2020 Exhibition February 14, 2020 November 15, 2020 Europe/London African Arts—Global Conversations Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn: New York, United States

African Arts—Global Conversations puts African arts where they rightfully belong: within the global art historical canon. It brings those works into greater, meaningful art historical conversations and critiques previous ways that encyclopedic museums and the field of art have or have not included them. African Arts—Global Conversations presents thirty-three works, including twenty by African artists. Highlights include a celebrated eighteenth-century Kuba sculpture, fourteenth- to sixteenth-century Ethiopian Orthodox processional crosses, and a mid-twentieth-century Sierra Leonean Ordehlay or Jollay society mask. Also featured are recent works by Atta Kwami, Ranti Bam, Magdalene Odundo OBE, and Taiye Idahor, which are paired with artworks by Māori, Seminole, Spanish, American, Huastec, and Korean artists.

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

April 11, 2020 - November 29, 2020 Exhibition April 11, 2020 November 29, 2020 Europe/London Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa is the first major exhibition addressing the scope of Saharan trade and the shared history of West Africa, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe from the eighth to sixteenth centuries. Weaving stories about interconnected histories, the exhibition showcases the objects and ideas that connected at the crossroads of the medieval Sahara and celebrates West Africa’s historic and under-recognised global significance. Presenting more than 250 artworks spanning five centuries and a vast geographic expanse, the exhibition features unprecedented loans from partner institutions in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria, many of which will be seen in North America for the first time.

Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art

11150 East Boulevard: Cleveland, United States

July 11, 2020 - November 29, 2020 Exhibition July 11, 2020 November 29, 2020 Europe/London Second Careers: Two Tributaries in African Art 11150 East Boulevard: Cleveland, United States

Second Careers explores the connections between historical African art and contemporary practices through a selection of exemplary highlights from the museum’s African collection and loaned works. CMA objects from nine cultures in Central and West Africa—male and female figures and masks, masquerade costume, a hunter’s tunic, and a prestige throne—are juxtaposed with large-scale installations, sculptures, and photographs by six leading contemporary African artists. The exhibition considers the status of canonical African art objects when they begin their “second careers” upon entering museum collections.

Wo ist Afrika?

Linden-Museum, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1: Stuttgart, Germany

March 16, 2019 - December 31, 2020 Exhibition March 16, 2019 December 31, 2020 Europe/London Wo ist Afrika? Linden-Museum, Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, Hegelplatz 1: Stuttgart, Germany

The Linden-Museum Stuttgart presents its new permanent exhibition "Wo ist Afrika?" from 16 March 2019. "Wo ist Afrika?" invites the visitor to critically explore and re-evaluate contexts and narratives associated to Linden-Museum Stuttgart’s collection of artefacts from the African continent. The exhibition shows how the collections were established, how they developed over time, and which rules of classification they adhered to. A large part of the objects on display were acquired from Cameroon, the Congo basin, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania between the end of 19th and the first half of the 20th, at the height of the European "Scramble for Africa". "Wo ist Afrika?" examines stories and histories inscribed into these objects and what they can mean for us today. The exhibition opens up a space of cultural creativity, which allows the visitors to near themselves to a wider understanding of culture. "Wo ist Afrika?" has a process-oriented approach, questioning the authority of the museum by showing a multitude of parallel narratives and asking important questions addressed to our contemporary societal cohabitation.

Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask

1717 North Harwood, Texas: Dallas, United States

November 23, 2019 - January 03, 2021 Exhibition November 23, 2019 January 03, 2021 Europe/London Not Visible to the Naked Eye: Inside a Senufo Helmet Mask 1717 North Harwood, Texas: Dallas, United States

The DMA’s Conservation and Arts of Africa departments, in an exciting and cutting-edge collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center, will present CT scans of a Senufo helmet mask from the Museum’s African art collection. This kind of mask is worn like a helmet by a medium at initiations, funerals, harvest celebrations and secret events conducted by the powerful male-only Komo society, which has traditionally maintained social and spiritual harmony in Senufo villages in Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Visible attachments on the mask include a female figure, cowrie shells, and imported glassware. The CT-scans reveal unexpected materials beneath the surface and objects contained in the attached animal horns that empower the mask.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye

Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Avenida Abandoibarra, 2 48009 : Bilbao, Spain

September 25, 2020 - January 31, 2021 Exhibition September 25, 2020 January 31, 2021 Europe/London Lynette Yiadom-Boakye Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Avenida Abandoibarra, 2 48009 : Bilbao, Spain

Widely considered to be one of the most important painters of her generation, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of fictitious people. In order to capture the unique moment of the flow of consciousness, each one is completed in a single sitting. Yiadom-Boakye’s paintings often allude to historic European portraiture – notably Thomas Gainsborough, Francisco de Goya, John Singer Sargent and Édouard Manet – yet in subject matter and technique her approach is decidedly contemporary. This exhibition will bring together over 80 paintings and works on paper from 2003 to the present day in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date.

Zanele Muholi

The European House of Photography, 5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004: Paris, France

November 04, 2020 - February 14, 2021 Exhibition November 04, 2020 February 14, 2021 Europe/London Zanele Muholi The European House of Photography, 5/7 Rue de Fourcy, 75004: Paris, France

After the Tate Modern in London, the MEP will present the first major retrospective in France devoted to the work of the South African "visual activist" Zanele Muholi. Born in South Africa, Zanele Muholi began to distinguish themselves at the dawn of the 2000s with photos seeking to document the life of black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer or intersex people, far from the representation that is usually made between deviance and victimisation. The work of Zanele Muholi defies ideology and hetero-patriarchal representations, presenting their subjects as confident, beautiful beings, who dare to exist with courage despite prejudice, intolerance and very often violence towards them.

Clay—Modeling African Design

University Collections Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street: Cambridge, United States

November 17, 2018 - November 14, 2021 Exhibition November 17, 2018 November 14, 2021 Europe/London Clay—Modeling African Design University Collections Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street: Cambridge, United States

This exhibition highlights artistic innovation and creativity in Africa as seen primarily through the traditions of ceramic arts from across the continent and over its long history. Countering the assumption that African arts and societies are largely unchanging and bound to traditions and customs, the remarkable diversity of objects and styles on display here tells a different story. A selection of more than 50 works on loan from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, including those by newly discovered Nigerian artist Alice Osayewe, are shown alongside works from the Harvard Art Museums permanent collections, such as a recently acquired contemporary photograph by Afro-futurist artist Alexis Peskine.

Heroes: Principles of African Greatness

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

November 13, 2019 - November 14, 2021 Exhibition November 13, 2019 November 14, 2021 Europe/London Heroes: Principles of African Greatness Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Avenue: Washington, D.C., United States

Be your best. This is the quest that the greatest of heroes model for us. Through their journeys, struggles, and triumphs, exceptional individuals exemplify values that we celebrate in tales of heroic accomplishment. Through art, artists tell such stories—stories of the world’s current complexity, but also visions of a world that could yet be. Heroes: Principles of African Greatness features artworks from the National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection that tell the story of key heroic principles and personages in Africa’s arts and history. Throughout, core values are considered as each artwork is paired with a specific historic African individual who embodies the value expressed in the selected work. Discover Africa’s heroes—some well-known, others perhaps surprising—and see artworks in new ways.

Connecting African art collectors with dealers and scholars, based on a foundation of knowledge about the origin, use & distinguishing features of listed pieces

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