Magazines - Tribal Art Winter 2011

By Lorraine Gallimardet, is a historian of African art, a doctoral student at the Ecole des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and is currently part of the contemporary African art market.

Introduction

An Exhibition of African Art Treasures at the First International Festival of Arts Nègres in Dakar.
The third international festival of “Arts Nègres” has finally taken place. It was held in Dakar from December 10–31 of 2010. The event was intended to put a closing flourish on an important year for Africa during which several fiftieth-independence anniversaries were celebrated, and the World Cup soccer championships were held in South Africa. Sadly, the cultural and artistic festival, rebaptized the World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures,1 which was finally held in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, did not live up to expectations. The event, which was marred by delays and cancellations, nonetheless included memorable musical highlights, and the world music stars present reminisced about the mythically remembered first Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres, which was held in Dakar from March 31–April 21, 1966.