InterviewArt market
Abuja, Miami, Seoul: gallery director Dolly Kola-Balogun maps out her path to African art’s world domination
The 27-year-old powerhouse founder of Retro Africa talks about her expansion plans and how she is helping to build a contemporary art scene in Nigeria
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Germany launches African museum exchange programme to discuss returning looted objects
New government initiative MuseumsLab aims to foster more international co-operation and consider topics including decolonisation and restitution
InterviewRestitution
Why African voices are crucial to the debate over the return of colonial loot
Senegalese art historian El Hadji Malick Ndiaye says discussions and decisions about the restitution of African artefacts cannot be dictated by the West
AnalysisAfrica
'Restitution is important but it is not essential': the African museums building a homegrown cultural revival
Though African institutions want looted artefacts to return home, they are more preoccupied with promoting living artists and treasures
AnalysisArt market
Africa’s art market grows even amid adversity
In a year marked by closures, cancellations and postponements, African art fairs are going ahead with new models and the continent’s galleries are growing
NewsMuseums
First look at David Adjaye's planned museum for Benin City
Ghanaian-born London architect is working with the British Museum and Nigerian organisations to show “the most comprehensive display in the world of Benin Bronzes”
NewsRestitution
French Senate votes unanimously for restitution to Benin and Senegal in 'act of friendship and trust'
Senate approves bill to return 27 colonial-era artefacts from museum collections to Africa within one year
NewsMuseums & Heritage
Ghana appoints experts to draw up 'radical' new plan for museums and monuments
Committee will advise on cultural initiatives in the country and research Ghanaian objects held in international collections
NewsAfrica
Artist Amadou Sanogo plans Bamako arts centre to mentor young talent
Expected to open in 2022, Makoro will house studios for Malian artists under 30, workshops for school children and exhibitions
NewsCollectors
Portuguese judge orders seizure of all assets owned by African art collector Isabel dos Santos in the country
Move is intended to stall the sales of stakes in multi-million-Euro companies based in Portugal
NewsRhodesian Man
Zambia claims Rhodesian Man, the 250,000-year-old fossilised skull at London’s Natural History Museum
Negotiations are ongoing, but the Foreign Office says releasing 1972 documents on the claim “would harm UK relations with Zambia”
NewsFakes & copies
'Stolen' ancient sculpture returned to Nigeria is 'the kind of fake you could buy on eBay', African art expert says
Countries' rush to restitute objects is part of the problem, says Belgian lawyer
NewsOpenings
Green energy company powers Madagascar's first contemporary art non-profit
Hakanto Contemporary, sponsored by the eco-friendly Filatex group, is directed by the artist Joël Andrianomearisoa
NewsMorocco
Marrakesh loses title of first African Capital of Culture after Moroccan government steps in
Rabat is given the accolade just a just a week before celebration events were scheduled to take place
AnalysisArt market
'You have the right to culture with a capital C': Africa's growing collecting class shifts focus to home
From Marrakech to Cape Town, the continent's growing fairs and auctions scene is catering to a burgeoning domestic buying base
NewsControversies
Luanda Leaks: Isabel dos Santos—who owns vast African art collection—accused of making her $2.2bn fortune by exploiting Angola
Dos Santos and her husband Sindika Dokolo own around 3,000 works by artists including William Kentridge and Zanele Muholi
ReviewBiennials & festivals
Mali's reputation for insecurity challenged by the 25th Bamako Encounters
This year's edition of the photography festival showed "there are many Africas", as 85 artists portrayed a multifaceted, self-aware continent
NewsCollectors
Angola freezes assets of billionaire and her art collector husband
Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, is married to Sindika Dokolo who has been working for years on repatriating works to the African continent
NewsConservation
How medical experts helped curators discover the hidden secrets of a Senufo helmet mask
Spectral CT scans enabled the Dallas Museum of Art to identify unknown elements in the West African piece
NewsRestitution
France promises to return 26 looted Benin artefacts by 2021 and opens talks on 'wider set of works'
But full restitution depends on changes to French law and the construction of new Benin museum
NewsMuseums
Togo opens ground-breaking arts centre in former colonial palace
Palais de Lomé is the west African country's first major contemporary art centre and is unique on the continent for being financed by the state
NewsRestitution
France returns a historic sword to Senegal
The gesture is intended as a symbol of France’s commitment to repatriating African heritage
NewsExhibitions
Alfredo Jaar revisits Rwandan genocide 25 years after the atrocity
The Chilean artist’s harrowing project goes on show in the UK for the first time
CommentSavoy/Sarr Report
One year after the Sarr-Savoy report, France has lost its momentum in the restitution debate
It recommended the restitution of African artefacts in French museums, but the country has not returned a single item to Africa
NewsNigeria
Yoruba prince donates more than 1,000 works of art to establish university museum in Nigeria
Yemisi Shyllon hopes other Nigerian collectors will follow his example and help found teaching museums that promote art education
FeatureAfrican art
Why African women artists are bucking the market trend
The growing success of female African artists marks an exciting shift in the market
ReviewBook Shorts
The travel books of Eugène Delacroix have now been translated into English
These notebooks reveal how the artist discovered the "real" Orient in North Africa and southern Spain and adjusted his paintings accordingly
NewsRestitution
Benin gets €20m loan for new museum to show restituted heritage
France’s president pledged to return 26 items seized in the 19th century by the French military
NewsArt Basel 2019
South African art fair gets reboot under a new owner
Johannesburg-based FNB Joburg fair has been bought by its former director Mandla Sibeko
CommentMuseums in the changing world order
Museums in the changing world order: Restitution to Africa reaches tipping point
In the second part of a new series, Adrian Ellis examines the issue of post-colonial restitution
NewsVenice Biennale 2019
David Adjaye to design Ghana’s first ever pavilion at the Venice Biennale
Artists on show will include John Akomfrah, El Anatsui and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
ReviewArt market
This is African art's Golden Age, but can 1-54 Marrakech help build a sustainable domestic clientele?
Western interest in contemporary works from the continent is at a high, but that can be a double-edged sword
NewsArt market
Economic growth spurs Africa’s art market—but slowly
Fledgling local client base and rising international interest fuel Cape Town and Marrakech shows
NewsAfrica
Zimbabwe makes Venice Biennale selections amid political turmoil
Cosmos Shiridzinomwa and Georgina Maxim are the first artists to be confirmed
NewsRestitution
Nigeria calls for return of Lander Stool from the British Museum
Woodcarving was taken from the African country in 1830 by the UK explorer Richard Lander
PreviewExhibitions
When Saharan sands glittered with gold: how the world's largest desert was a major medieval trade route
New exhibition at the Block Museum of Art looks at the artefacts that flowed through the region assisted by the spread of Islam
NewsRestitution
Senegal and Ivory Coast will ask for return of objects in French museums
Statements come just days after the release of a controversial French report on the restitution of African artefacts
NewsCultural policy
'Give Africa its art back', Macron's report says
A new report on the status of African objects in French museums will urge the president to return works taken “without consent” in the colonial period
PreviewExhibitions
Mexican exhibitions of southern African art bring death to life
Shows in Oaxaca de Juárez forge cross-cultural connections
Comment
Zeitz Mocaa: Africa’s private ‘Tate Modern’ must do more for its public
More than a year after opening, the Cape Town museum’s curatorial and educational record has yet to live up to its promise
NewsLooted art
Hamburg museum says its Benin bronzes could return to Nigeria—but not yet
Applied arts institution is showing the sculptures in a looted art exhibition
NewsLooting
Will the British Museum lend Nigeria the Benin bronzes?
Planned museum in Benin City offers safe environment for Western collections, the country says
Comment300
Then & Now: the V&A and Queen Woyzaro Terunesh's wedding dress
The story behind the garment
FeatureArt Dubai 2018
Is interest in African art on the rise in the Middle East?
An increased presence of African galleries at this edition of Art Dubai could signify a flourishing regional market
ArchiveAfrica
African collectors share the wealth as private museums proliferate
Theo Danjuma proposes a non-profit gallery in one of his father's hotels in Lagos. In South Africa, a $45m contemporary art museum is underway
ArchiveRestitution
American museums increasingly proactive about restitution cases
30 memorial totems were repatriated to the Kenya last month
CommentAfrica
Why Africa’s future museums should forget Western models
The time is ripe for artists and curators to reconfigure what can actually be done within the walls of a museum
Clémentine Deliss