When the art pioneers went on show

John owoo Events Jan - 03 - 2015 , 10:55

An exhibition of selected pieces from the collection of the National Museum dating from the 1940s to the 1990s is currently on show at the Museum in Accra.

Artists whose works are on display include Prof E.V. Asihene, Dr. Kobina Bucknor, Amon Kotei, Kofi Antubam, A.O. Bartemeus, J.C.O. Okyere, E. Owusu Dartey, Emmanuel Addo Osafo, F.A. Gyampoh, J.D. Okae, Kwame Wiafe Debra, Grace Salome Kwami, E.L. Asa Anakwa, Philip Amonoo, Prof Ablade Glover and Prof Ato Delaquis.

The images, which are characterised by huge traditional underpinnings, embrace pristine landscapes and forests, aspects of cultural practices, superstition and the beauty / ingenuity of the African woman.

In a lecture that heralded the exhibition, Prof Kojo Fosu of the Department of Art Education, University of Education, Winneba, presented a historical overview of the art scene in Ghana with emphasis on the various stages from the Stone Age to new experiments.

Quoting extensively from academic literature, Prof Fosu noted that by the turn of the 10th Century AD, major ethnic groups of migrating Africans who later consolidated their positions into ethnic states, empires and kingdoms, eventually produced standard artistic works of long standing historical significance.

Touching on contemporary art in Ghana, Prof Fosu said Ghana had experienced varied interactions with foreign adventurers, slave raiders colonial exploiters and education architects – a move which had progressively evolved into a diverse cross cultural contemporary art tradition.

He dilated on the development of a unique hybrid of cross-cultural contemporary art tradition, which he described as being the result of a blend of European art conventions, African ethnic art traditions of disproportions and exaggerations.

“The harmonious blending of these styles meant that the emerging new Ghanaian contemporary art of realism, often composed in cultural narratives to romanticise and idealise Ghanaian customary practices, simultaneously displayed disproportionate features,” Prof Fosu said.