The lack of infrastructure has been identified as the bane of the African art market. This is the position Hannah O’Leary, Head of Modern and Contemporary African art at Sotheby’s. Her assertion is coming on the heels of the recent Artnet Intelligence Report which stated that
Africa’s art market is still nascent when compared to the United States, China and Europe.
While the continent’s local collector base is growing steadily—Sotheby’s fourth dedicated auction of Modern and contemporary African art in April was dominated by African buyers and generated a total of $3 million, above its presale high estimate of $2.7 million—it is still nascent compared with the US, China, and Europe, the report stated.
In the words of O’Leary “You need infrastructure. On the whole, there is a real lack of public support. We are seeing lots of raw talent, but we need more of a market structure to support their careers” she said.
The third edition of the artnet Intelligence Report provided an in-depth look into how the art world has evolved over the past three decades from a boutique business sector into a full-blown global industry.
And while the continent’s local collector base is growing steadily—Sotheby’s fourth dedicated auction of Modern and contemporary African art in April was dominated by African buyers and generated a total of $3 million, above its presale high estimate of $2.7 million—it is still nascent compared with the US, China, and Europe.
Some ambitious institutions are already rising. Over the past two years, museums like Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakech, and the Museum of Black Civilizations in Dakar have launched with a mission to write their contemporary art histories. Meanwhile, artists who have already found commercial success, such as Hassan Hajjaj and Ibrahim Mahama, have set up institutions of their own to nurture young talent at home.
According to the report, a single hub for such a massive and heterogeneous continent may never materialize. Instead, Rakeb Sile, cofounder of the gallery Addis Fine Art, predicts that “there will be and should be different hubs in several regions of Africa.” We have assembled a guide to six of these dynamic emerging art capitals: Accra, Addis Ababa, Cape Town, Dakar, Lagos, and Marrakech. Each city has its heritage, culture, and distinctive history with colonialism—resulting in unique artistic production.
Painting remains most popular in East Africa, which is home to the two oldest art schools on the continent, while West Africa has fostered more experimentation with largescale installations and performance-based work. Both sides of the continent also have a rich tradition of photography.
“There shouldn’t be any question about quality and talent in Africa,” O’Leary says. And where talent goes, the art world follows. The presence of an increasingly wealthy clientele to cater to certainly helps. “When we talk about buyer potential in Africa there shouldn’t be any doubt” she added.