Contemporary African art exudes a new confidence. While the consequences of colonial rule are starkly reflected in today’s discussions around looted art, contemporary artists from the continent have forged an indelible, independent identity. On the art market, African American and Afro-European artists are achieving growing success, especially as collectors broaden their focus beyond Europe, America, and China to include new, prosperous collecting areas.
World exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and Kassel’s Documenta have included African art since the 1990s. Individual artists with a strong presence, like Kerry James Marshall in Alabama, Yinka Shonibare in London, Georges Adéagbo in Benin, and Churchill Makidia in Johannesburg, made waves with distinctive works.
In 2004, the eye-opening exhibition Africa Remix by Jean-Hubert Martin opened at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf and toured to London, Paris, and Tokyo. At Documenta XII in 2007, no fewer than nine artists with African roots were featured.
A recent product of a pan-African selection is the traveling exhibition Prête-moi ton Rêve / Lend Me Your Dream, launched in 2019 in Casablanca with works by 28 artists, which later traveled to five additional African cities.
2019 marked a strong year for African art on the global stage. Ghana’s pavilion at the Venice Biennale, the well-attended Contemporary African Art Fair 1–54 in London, and Art X, the first art fair organized in West Africa in the eight-million-strong city of Lagos, became milestones in cultivating new tastes and expanding market recognition for established art forms.
At the last African Art Fair in October 2020 at London’s Somerset House, works by 110 recognized and emerging artists were exhibited. In January, the fair even had an offshoot at Christie’s Paris headquarters. In Hauser & Wirth’s 2021 European exhibition program, four artists with African roots were featured: African Americans Charles Gaines, Henry Taylor, Ellen Gallagher, and Briton Frank Bowling, giving the movement fresh momentum.
Auction houses had sensed the potential over a decade ago. London-based Bonhams led the way, hosting South African art auctions since 2009. Since 2015, under the label Africa Now, works by artists from across the continent have been sold. A record sale remains memorable: in May 2011, Qatar Museums paid £3 million at Bonhams for the portrait Arab Priest by South African classic Irma Stern (1894–1966).
Stern was not born in Africa; she came from a German-Jewish émigré family and had a profound influence on South African portraiture. In the coming March, a comparable 1945 portrait, Araber mit Dolch (Arab with Dagger), will be auctioned in London, with an estimate of £700,000 to £1 million.
Slow collector response
In 2020, Bonhams held five auctions of contemporary African art. Expert Giles Peppiatt recalled in African Business: “It took the market two years to understand what we were doing, and three or four years for collectors to say: Yes, this is a market we should enter.”
In 2020, Bonhams held five auctions of contemporary African art. Expert Giles Peppiatt recalled in African Business: “It took the market two years to understand what we were doing, and three or four years for collectors to say: Yes, this is a market we should enter.”
In 2016, Sotheby’s recruited Hannah O’Leary, a specialist in modern and contemporary African art, from Bonhams, and since 2017 has held biannual auctions in this collecting category. Last year, these sales saw a 30% increase in bidders. In October, one of Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui’s gold-colored cloth reliefs made from bottle caps and copper wire sold for £1 million. The previous year, a retrospective of the now 77-year-old artist, which traveled from Munich to Doha, Bern, and Bilbao, had strengthened his market position.
At Christie’s, South African art is mainly offered in mixed auctions in London, New York, and Hong Kong. In December 2020, a portrait by Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo sold in Hong Kong for approximately $1.2 million. In February, California-based collector speculator Stefan Simchowitz consigned Boafo’s 2019 painting The Lemon Bathing Suit to Phillips, where it reached a top price of $675,000. Bloomberg reported the artist’s lament: “Now he’s making profit. It’s so sad; the painting is so fresh.” Previously, Boafo’s primary market prices had been a maximum of $50,000.
First auction at Phillips
African American artists have appeared for a decade in Phillips’ New York and London auctions of modern and contemporary art. The first Africa auction took place in 2010, bringing in a modest $1.4 million despite a 38.7% decline. In subsequent years, these artists were integrated into the international market, with strong results. In December 2020, Afro-American artist Amy Sherald’s painting The Bathers sold for a record $4.3 million—twenty times the estimate.
African American artists have appeared for a decade in Phillips’ New York and London auctions of modern and contemporary art. The first Africa auction took place in 2010, bringing in a modest $1.4 million despite a 38.7% decline. In subsequent years, these artists were integrated into the international market, with strong results. In December 2020, Afro-American artist Amy Sherald’s painting The Bathers sold for a record $4.3 million—twenty times the estimate.
This full-length portrait of two Black women in bathing suits, created in 2015, underscores the speculative aspect. Works by Boafo and family scenes by Congolese artist Chéri Samba, whose prices currently reach up to $140,000, also have iconic status, boosting demand.
Another auction house dedicated to African art is Arthouse, founded in Lagos in 2007, which holds biannual auctions. Since 2016, it has offered emerging African artists’ works under the label The Affordable Art Auction, with estimates usually below $3,500.
Discovering phenomenal works
“It’s definitely a combination of renowned, emerging, and relatively unknown African-origin artists who are incredibly talented, creative, and produce phenomenal works,” says Nigerian-born scientist Olusanya Ojikutu in an interview with collector platform Larry’s List. In his representative Washington home, he combines traditional African sculptures from Mali, Gabon, and Burkina Faso with contemporary works.
“It’s definitely a combination of renowned, emerging, and relatively unknown African-origin artists who are incredibly talented, creative, and produce phenomenal works,” says Nigerian-born scientist Olusanya Ojikutu in an interview with collector platform Larry’s List. In his representative Washington home, he combines traditional African sculptures from Mali, Gabon, and Burkina Faso with contemporary works.
Ojikutu highlights a growing collector scene, guided in part by New York art advisor Seble Asfaw and Instagram account @Bluchipart. He is not alone; bankers and industrialists from Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal are also pushing the market, which increasingly includes photographic art. In 2019, 70% of buyers at Bonhams’ African art auctions were African. One of the most comprehensive collections of African art is held by the Al Maaden Museum in Marrakesh, founded in 2016.
MACAAL is one of the first private collector-founded specialist museums, whose director Othman Lazraq collects contemporary African photographic art.
A challenge remains that African states invest little in cultural production and infrastructure. Recognition of their artists still largely depends on Western channels—auctions, curators, fairs, art advisors. However, prospects are good: more and more museums are acquiring works by African and African-descended artists. Despite a dip in 2019, when sales fell 11% due to fewer high-profile auctions, the market remains one of the most promising.