DÁ FALA

A talk by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi at FLAD
Nov 3, 2022, 6pm
“Over the past several years, MoMA has sought to redress the ways in which African art and artists are presented and represented in global art history. In addition to making key acquisitions to amplify the presence of African artists at the Museum, it has organized important monographic exhibitions, such as Bodys Isek Kingelez: City Dreams in 2018 and more recently, Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: World Unbound in 2022. My talk examines MoMA’s history with African modernism that began in 1960 when the institution acquired Men Taking Banana Beer to Bride, a 1956 painting by the East African modernist Sam Ntiro. It will address MoMA’s recent collecting strategies that seek to connect this consequential period of modernist flourish in Africa and contemporary practices by African artists.”
Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi is the first Steven and Lisa Tananbaum Curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA, New York. You can find Smooth’s full bio on our website.