Internationally acclaimed Ghanaian artist honoured
Internationally acclaimed Ghanaian artist, El Anatsui, has added another feather to his cap, receiving an honorary doctor of Arts degree from the Harvard University in the United States.
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The Artist, recognised for his extraordinary sculpture and assemblage work, received the recognition on May 26, 2016 alongside eight other accomplished personalities including world renowned two-time Oscar winning Film Director, Stephen Spielberg, former Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso and David B. Davis, Sterling Emeritus Professor of History at the Yale University.
Citation
A citation accompanying Anatsui’s award read: “Drawing on the aesthetic traditions of his native Ghana and adopted Nigeria, as well as contemporary Western forms of expression, Anatsui’s works engage the cultural, social and economic histories of West Africa.
The metal fragments in his work provide a commentary on globalisation, consumerism, waste, and the transience of people’s lives in West Africa and beyond. His sculptures in wood and ceramics introduce ideas about the function of objects (their destruction, transformation, and regeneration) in everyday life, and about the role of language in deciphering visual symbols.”
Anatsui, 72, received his B.A. from the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in 1969 and taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from 1975 until he retired in 2011.
His works
His works are in the public collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Indianapolis Museum of Art; British Museum, London, Centre Pompidou, Paris, among many others.
His installations have provoked wide international attention with institutions and audiences fascinated by these spectacular, almost hypnotic works made from thousands of aluminium bottle tops.
During the Venice Biennale in 2007, he transformed the facade of the Palazzo Fortuny by draping it in a glittering wall sculpture.
In 2010, two major touring shows of his work opened on opposite sides of the world: El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada (organised by the Museum for African Art, New York) and A Fateful Journey: Africa in the Works of El Anatsui at the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan.
As part of the 2012 Paris Triennale, he transformed the entire facade of Le Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris with his striking work, Broken Bridge.
In 2013, the Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA, exhibited the touring solo exhibition, Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui and the Royal Academy of Arts, London presented the artist with the prestigious Charles Wollaston Award for his work, TSIATSIA – searching for connection (2013) which covered the entire facade of the RA building.
Sculptural work
El Anatsui’s sculptural work can be found in scores of private collections globally and continentally, and in the permanent collections of more than 40 major international museums; 13 of America’s leading museums included.
They include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y; The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; and The Museum for Modern Art, N.Y.
Other public collections include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle; The British Museum, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo; Jordan National Gallery of Arts, Amman; The World Bank Art Collection, Washington, D.C; UNAIDS Geneva; Ghana National Art Collection, Accra; and The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos.
Anatsui’s work, which is now accepted globally as a “hard–to–categorise” art form, has featured more than once at The Venice Biennale, the most prestigious event in the international art calendar. He has exhibited on six continents.
Awards
Anatsui was ranked among the 100 most-rated people in the Art World in 2013 and had annexed quite a number of prestigious awards including the 2015 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement by the Vernice Biennale for his success and artistic influence among two generations of artists working in West Africa.
In 2014, he was elected into the UK Royal Academy of Arts, as well as American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He shares that honour with the likes of Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr and George Washington.