Expectations of the President as Patron and “Protector of the Arts”: Culture as Identity in

Postcolonial Senegal by

Joseph Underwood

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Master of Arts

in

Art History and Criticism

Stony Brook University

August 2014

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  ii  

Stony Brook University

The Graduate School

Joseph Lamar Underwood

We, the thesis committee for the above candidate for the

Master of Arts degree, hereby recommend

acceptance of this thesis.

Barbara Frank – Thesis Advisor Associate Professor, Art History & Criticism

Michele Bogart – Second Reader Professor, Art History & Criticism

This thesis is accepted by the Graduate School

Charles Taber Dean of the Graduate School

 

  iii  

Abstract of the Thesis

Expectations of the President as Patron and “Protector of the Arts”: Culture as Identity in

Postcolonial Senegal

by

Joseph Underwood

Master of Arts

in

Art History and Criticism

Stony Brook University

2014

Since Senegal’s independence, scholars have critically examined each president on how his

policies shaped contemporary Senegalese art and its promotion at home and abroad. The

presidential patronage of the arts garners an international authority based on cultural supremacy.

This authority then spills into other realms, causing Senegal to be seen worldwide as a

continental leader in philosophy, racial ideologies, or intra-African politics. In this thesis, I argue

that Senghor’s promotion of African culture during the 1960s and 70s shaped local and

international expectations of the Senegalese president, causing his successors to be heavily

critiqued based on how they negotiated their role as “Protector of the Arts”—one title given to

the president, as stated in Senegal’s constitution. By tracing the cultural policies and artistic

legacy of the Senegalese presidents, I will demonstrate how Senegal’s complex historical

relationship between presidential patronage and contemporary cultural production led to Dakar

becoming a continental hub for African artists and critics.

 

  iv  

Table of Contents

List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………..v

Expectations of the President as Patron and “Protector of the Arts”: Culture as Identity in Postcolonial Senegal…………………………………………………………………1 Figures…………………………………………………………………………..……...35

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………....41

 

  v  

List of Figures

Figure 1. Papa Ibra Tall, Couple royale, tapestry, 1965, Collection of l’Institut Francais. Figure 2. Ibou Diouf, Les trois épouses, 1974, wool. Figure 3. Abdou Diouf following President Senghor and guests up the stairs at FESMAN. Photo credit: Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. Paris: Imprimerie Bouchet-Lakara, 1967: 31. Figure 4. Iba N’Diaye, President Senghor, French Minister of Cultural Affairs André Malraux, Madame Senghor (Colette Hubert), and painter Pierre Lods. Photo credit: Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. Paris: Imprimerie Bouchet-Lakara, 1967: 68. Figure 5. Mamadou SEYA N’Diaye, Tatouage IV, oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm, from the Dak’Art 1992 catalogue, p. 49. Figure 6. Pape Youssou N’Diaye, Untitled, taken from the Dak’Art 1992 catalogue, p. 54. Figure 7. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze. Figure 8. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze. Figure 9. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze. Figure 10. African heads of state at the dedication included the president of Malawi and the African Union Bingu wa Mutharika, the former African Union Commission chair Jean Ping, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Presidents of Benin, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, and Mauritania. Photo credit: Edna Onwuchekwa, African Renaissance Monument: Origin, History, Significance, Enugu, Nigeria: SNAAP Press, Ltd., 2010: 9. Figure 11. Abdoulaye Wade, Patent for the Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2008. Figure 12. Virgil Magherusan, La Renaissance Africaine, bronze, 48 cm, edition 2/8, 2003.

 

  1

Expectations of the President as Patron and “Protector of

the Arts”: Culture as Identity in Postcolonial Senegal

By Joseph Underwood

Senegal has long stood as a bastion for the arts among the independent African

nation-states. Rivaling the heritage of other productive art centers, such as Nigeria or

South Africa, Senegal’s preeminent and prolific art scene is a major identifier of

postcolonial Senegalese identity. Scholars have discussed the legacy left by Senegal’s

first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor, as he guided the fledging country through state

promotion of the written and visual arts. However, a project that traces the effects of this

legacy on the Dakar art scene through the presidencies of Abdou Diouf, Abdoulaye

Wade, and Macky Sall has not been undertaken.

Such a project is timely, considering that the first three presidents represent a

bygone era, having all served as intellectuals and politicians since the independence of

the country in 1960, whereas Sall is the first president to come from the younger,

postcolonial generation. More than mere government promotion of the arts, the particular

brand of state patronage seen during the terms of the first three presidents represents an

integral component of the nation’s postcolonial identity. More succinctly, since Senegal’s

independence, scholars have critically examined each president on how his policies

shaped contemporary Senegalese art and its promotion at home and abroad.1 The

                                                                                                                         1 For example, two studies that analyze the relationship between president and cultural

climate during the Senghor and Diouf eras are Elizabeth Harney, In Senghor’s

 

  2

presidential patronage of the arts garners an international authority based on cultural

supremacy. This authority then spills into other realms, causing Senegal to be seen

worldwide as a continental leader in philosophy, racial ideologies, or intra-African

politics. In this thesis, I argue that Senghor’s promotion of African culture during the

1960s and 70s shaped local and international expectations of the Senegalese president,

causing his successors to be heavily critiqued based on how they negotiated their role as

“Protector of the Arts”—one title given to the president, as stated in Senegal’s

constitution. By tracing the cultural policies and artistic legacy of the Senegalese

presidents, I will demonstrate how Senegal’s complex historical relationship between

presidential patronage and contemporary cultural production led to Dakar becoming a

continental hub for African artists and critics.

To elucidate how each president, his new artistic institution, and the reception of

said institution came together to signify “culture” as inherent to Senegal’s identity, I will

compare the 1966 Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (FESMAN) to the Dakar Biennale

for visual arts of 1992. I will conclude with an analysis of the African Renaissance

Monument (2010), a controversial public statue, followed by an assessment of the

direction that cultural policy has taken under Sall’s administration since 2012.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Shadow: Art, Politics, and the Avant-Garde in Senegal, Durham: Duke University Press (2004) and Tracy Snipe, Art and Politics in Senegal: 1960-1996, Trenton, Asmara: Africa World Press, Inc., 1998. While no book has continued this method of study through the term of Wade, several articles have followed the theme. See Patrick Dramé, « La monumentalisation du passé colonial et esclavagiste au Sénégal : Controverse et rejet de la renaissance africaine, » Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, vol. 22, no. 2 (2011): 237-265. See also Ferdinand de Jong and Vincent Foucher, “La tragédie du roi Abdoulaye? Néomodernisme et Renaissance africaine dans le Sénégal contemporain,” Politique Africaine, no. 118 (June 2010): 187-204. There has been no such study of Sall’s presidency to date.

 

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The precedent of Senegal’s precedence in African art was established as poet-

President Leopold Senghor (active 1960-1980) famously devoted one quarter of the

national budget to the Ministry of Culture and aligned national artistic production with an

aesthetic that complemented his philosophy of Négritude, a movement of the 1930s that

championed a deep, spiritual link between all descendants of Africa.2 In Dakar, Senghor

constructed sites for cultural events, hosted international festivals, and championed a

Pan-African culture as the panacea for Africans’ woes. Senegal’s second President,

Abdou Diouf (active 1981-2000), like Senghor, belonged to the Parti Socialiste du

Sénégal. However, Diouf differed from his mentor in that he saw the world more

pragmatically, focusing his energies on the declining economy of the 80s and on

ameliorating Senegal’s technological infrastructure. Diouf was interested in international

commerce and only began to demonstrate concern for Senegalese artists near the end of

the 80s with the establishment of the Dakar Biennale.

The third President, Abdoulaye Wade (active 2001-2012) would also carry the

mantle of “Protector of the Arts” through his continued support of the Biennale, his

reprise of Senghor’s Festival, and his own notable public art commission, the African

Renaissance Monument. Macky Sall (active 2012-present) is a newcomer whose plans for

Senegal’s art scene are not yet known, though some indication may have been given at

the 2104 edition of the Biennale. No single artistic institution—Festival, Biennale, or

Monument—is an occurrence in isolation. On the contrary, each is a single element

                                                                                                                         2 Snipe, Art and Politics, 1998: 58. For more on Négritude, see Ibid., 31-34. See also

Barend v. D. Van Niekerk, The African Image (Négritude) in the work of Leopold Sedar Senghor, Cape Town: A.A. Balkema, 1970.

 

  4

within Senegal’s cultural continuum and each adds another dimension to the discussion

on African art as successive presidents leave a legacy.

Senghor’s Platform: The Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (1966)

On the eve of Senegal’s independence in 1959, the Society of African Culture and

Senghor put forth the idea of a Pan-African cultural festival with the coastal city of Dakar

serving as host.3 Boasting a densely-packed schedule of events, the week of FESMAN

would consist of four principle components: a symposium addressing the question “What

contribution can the Negro tradition bring to the fine and applied arts today?”,4 separate

exhibitions of traditional Negro art and contemporary Negro art, a son et lumière show at

Gorée Island, and a calendar of events including recitals for dance or voice, poetry

readings, and theatrical productions. With UNESCO and President Senghor listed as the

primary patrons of the festival5, Senegal was able to host approximately 2,500 visual and

performing artists and an impressive 25,000 attendees. Later termed “the most ambitious

cultural project of its time”6 and the “most successful Pan-African event,”7 FESMAN

                                                                                                                         3 The idea for this type of festival was developed at the 1st Congress of Black Writers and

Artists, organized by Presence Africaine at the Sorbonne in 1959. See Ousmane Huchard Sow, “The First International Festival of Black Arts,” An Anthology of African Art: The Twentieth Century, ed. N’Gone Fall and Jean Loup Pivin. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. (2002): 225.

4 Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts,” 1967: 181. 5 Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. Paris: Imprimerie Bouchet-Lakara, 1967:

14. 6 Tobias Wofford, “Exhibiting a Global Blackness: the First World Festival of Negro

Arts,” New World Coming: the Sixties and the Shaping of Global Consciousness, ed. Scott Rutherford. Toronto: Between the Lines, 2009: 179.

 

  5

solidified Senegal’s prowess in and dedication to the arts before an international

audience.

The infrastructure behind the event was significant, requiring the expansion of the

airport, the construction of new facilities (including the Leopold Senghor Stadium, the

Daniel Sorano Theater, the Musée Dynamique, and the Manufacture Sénégalaise des Arts

Décoratifs), and the rental of Russian ocean liners as auxiliary hotels.8 The Festival

featured a wide array of participating artists, the majority of whom hailed from Central

and West Africa, the United States, and Europe. FESMAN featured notable contributions

by Duke Ellington, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and painter Frank Bowling. Some

winners of the Festival’s awards were Christian Lattier of Côte d’Ivoire for contemporary

art, Ousmane Sembène of Senegal for francophone film and novel, and Louis Armstrong

of the United States for his song “Hello Dolly.”9

Senghor’s speeches permeated the week; he spoke at the colloquium, during the

staged events, and even via radio broadcasts. His own words reveal his motivation for

hosting the event:

“…people are no longer strangers. We are thrown together…we must enter into talks, negotiate and organize together, among people, our region, our continent and our planet Earth. Therefore, by us and despite us, a Universal Civilization has

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         7 Thomas Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts: Some Observations on the Dakar

Festival,” The Massachusetts Review, vol. 8, no. 1 (Winter 1967): 184. 8 There is an excellent study by Tobias Wofford that explores how international

involvement at FESMAN can be read as an attempt by world powers, such as the United States and Russia, to gain influence and allies among the new African nations. See Tobias Wofford, “Exhibiting a Global Blackness: the First World Festival of Negro Arts,” 2009: 179-86.

9 Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. 1967: 128.

 

  6

been developing since the start of the 20th century, in which each continent, each race and each people make a positive contribution… The purpose of the First International Festival of Negro Arts is, quite specifically, to show, with the riches of traditional Negro art, the participation of Négritude in Universal Civilization.”10

There was a loftiness to the festival; it was more than mere celebration. It

intended to be an inquiry, a statement of goodwill, a locus for unity, and a reclamation of

Africa’s role in modern history, even as the Festival itself created history. André

Malraux, French Minister of Cultural Affairs and delegate to the Festival, stated, “…for

the first time, a head of State is taking into his own perishable hands the spiritual destiny

of a continent.”11 As the gamut of visitors and dignitaries navigated the venues of the

Festival, each sight further solidified the sense of African achievement in establishing its

place in the global arts community.

Through the preeminent exhibition of contemporary arts, housed at the Palais de

Justice, African intellectuals finally felt justified in claiming an authentic contemporary

African art. This new art was created in order to be exhibited in museums/galleries, to

speak to the urbanization of African elites, and to be judged by critics.12 Whether or not

all the artists embraced the universality of Senghor’s Négritude, they did support an

acknowledgement of the Negro’s contribution to historical and contemporary culture—

                                                                                                                         10 Senghor as quoted in Huchard, “The First International Festival of Black Arts,” 2002:

224. 11 Malraux as quoted in Ibid., 224. 12 Ibid., 227.

 

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regardless of the individual artist’s current home or nationality.13 The exhibition of

traditional Negro arts brought together an unprecedented amount of African sculptures

from prestigious museums and private collections globally. It concluded with a section

entitled “Dialogue with the World” showing how traditional art was “brought out of its

isolation into the mainstream of modern art”—what Senghor termed “symbiosis.”14 From

the colloquium, to the art exhibitions, to the Festival’s official catalogue, the First World

Festival of Negro Arts was repositioning African art in a seat at the international table—

with Senegal’s president as its guiding voice and patron.15

While the Festival was a resounding success and the artists were grateful for

Senghor’s patronage, it is clear that this mécène had an agenda. He used the event to

“affirm Senegal’s place in the vanguard of cultural advancement” in the presence of the

world’s financial and artistic superpowers, France and the United States, who were also

the two largest financial and logistical supporters of FESMAN.16 One historian notes that

the Festival “nurture[d] international relations through cultural networks” just as much as

“it was an opportunity for fostering a reconnection between Africa and its diaspora.”17

Senghor achieved both of these aims. The positive outlook on modern Africa was carried                                                                                                                          13 For more on this, see Jody Blake, “Cold War Diplomacy and Civil Rights Activism at

the World Festival of Negro Arts,” Studies in the History of Art, vo. 71 (2011): 56.

14 Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts,” 1967: 178. 15 This assertion is echoed by Snipe, Art and Politics in Senegal, 1998: 48. “A seminal

cultural event, this festival clearly established Senegal as one of Africa’s cultural leaders.”

16 Harney, In Senghor’s Shadow, 2004: 70, 73. 17 Wofford, “Exhibiting a Global Blackness,” 2009: 182.

 

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back with visitors who published firsthand accounts after jetting back to New York from

Dakar.

These reviews gushed about the spontaneity of the affair, the welcoming feel of

the city, and the genuine charm of the Senegalese people.18 One observer notes that “It

was the size and ambition of the project that gave it such an impact on the mind…”19 The

fact that all the art objects, performances, dancers, and speakers were in one place, at one

moment, and exhibited in an organized, systematic way was not anticipated by the

majority of visitors. They arrived with the assumption that the continent was not capable

of hosting such a sprawling event. The observer’s conclusion, “Perhaps truly the most

significant thing about this festival is that it happened” is revelatory of public

(mis)conception concerning an African nation’s ability to celebrate culture on such a

scale. Reviews consistently hailed Senghor’s “ingenuity and persistence” in making “the

most modern African cultural center”20 even as the president himself declared victory:

“The repercussions of this first world festival of Negro arts in Africa and in America, in

Europe and in Asia, mean that the militant workers for Négritude have achieved their

aims.”21

                                                                                                                         18 Newell Flather, “Impressions of the Dakar Festival,” Africa Report, May 1966: 58.

Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts,” 1967: 184. See also John Povey, “Dakar: An African Rendez-Vous,” Africa Today, vol. 13, no. 5 (May 1966): 5.

19 Povey, “Dakar,” 1966: 6. 20 Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts,” 1967: 184. 21 Philippe Scipion, “New Developments in French-Speaking Africa,” Civilisations, vol.

16, no. 2 (1966): 258.

 

  9

One concrete achievement from FESMAN was the list of resolutions drafted by

colloquium participants. They called for a commission to preserve wooden art objects

and another for cataloguing modern African music. One resolution of particular note was

the appeal to all other African governments to encourage and promote their artists in a

way similar to FESMAN. This resolution implied that Senegal was not only the

forerunner in presidential support of culture, but that it also had the responsibility and

authority to prod other African countries who were lagging behind.22

From lively instrumentation and performances of century-old dances to an

exhibition of contemporary art from a freshly postcolonial context, this weeklong festival

in 1966 established Senegal as a leader of African art exhibitions and demonstrated its

ability to manage this feat for a global audience. Another notion took root in the minds of

audiences worldwide as a result of FESMAN’s success: the Senegalese President was

obligated to promote African culture. In the eyes of local, continental, and international

communities, this art event situated Senegal as the crossroads between the United States,

Europe, and Africa and as a herald for African art.23

Senghor’s Legacy: Promoting National Art Abroad

                                                                                                                         22 Cassirer, “Africa’s Olympiad of the Arts,” 1967: 182 23 For more on Dakar as a crossroads, see Joanna Grabski, “Urban Claims and Visual

Sources in the Making of Dakar's Art World City,” Art Journal, vol. 68, no. 1: 16. For more about the not quite subtle rivalry between Senegal and other art centers, such as Nigeria, see Snipe, Art and Politics in Senegal, 1998: 52-53. Snipe also recounts that Senghor does not attend FESTAC ’77, the follow-up event to FESMAN in Nigeria.

 

  10

After the monumental success of FESMAN, Senghor maintained a strong link

between government patronage and contemporary Senegalese art through the foundation

of Dakar’s Ecole de Beaux-Arts. Under the tutelage of artist Papa Ibra Tall, an enthusiast

of Senghor’s philosophy, the school emphasized form, color, and instinct to produce

emotive, rhythmic compositions that aligned with the innate, intuitive africanité that

underscored Négritude’s Pan-African ideals. These bold paintings and tapestries (Figures

1, 2) formed the cornerstone of the national collection, served as gifts to political offices

abroad, and were eventually canonized as the “Ecole de Dakar” style.24 In addition, an

exhibition of approximately 140 of these Négritude-inspired artworks, entitled

“Senegalese Art Today,” was shipped internationally at the expense of the Senegalese

government. Beginning in 1974, this exhibit traveled for ten years throughout the United

States, Europe, Japan, and Brazil.25 As Elizabeth Harney states, this exhibition of

“cultural patrimony” left an “enduring impression” on the international audiences and

further strengthened the patronal “link between state and artist” in the minds of the

Senegalese and global audiences.26

                                                                                                                         24 Some sources on this period style which elaborate on its formal style and significance:

Joanna Grabski, “Painting Fictions/Painting History: Modernist Pioneers at Senegal’s Ecole des Arts,” African Arts, vol. 39, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 38-49, 93-94. Elizabeth Harney, “The Ecole de Dakar: Pan-Africanism in Paint and Textiles,” African Arts, vol. 35, no. 3 (2002): 12-31. Caroline Gouard, “Dynamiques de la création picturale sénégalaise contemporaine,” Anthropos, vo. 88 no. 1 (1993): 77-86.

25 A review of this exhibition when it arrives in Paris: Bernard Pataux, “Senegalese Art

Today,” African Arts, vol. 8, no. 1 (1974): 26-87. 26 Harney, In Senghor’s Shadow, 2004: 78.

 

  11

As a result of the two decades of Senghorian patronage, the precedent of the

Senegalese president’s support for the arts—in both his guiding vision and his financial

backing—became a norm that has shaped the expectations of Senegalese artists ever

since. Not only did Senghor allocate substantial funding to the Ministry of Culture and

Education as a means of support, but he also championed his artists and their work as

essential to understanding the “soul of the Negro.” The art was not about being

Senegalese in particular; it was about the universal “Negro spirit,” which—

conveniently—was most accurately captured through the methodology and talent of

contemporary Senegalese artists. The artists under Senghor felt that they were more than

a source of economic gain or cultural prestige; they were heirs to an ancient legacy and

noble contributors to the formation of a new national identity and culture.27 This

sentiment would not extend into cultural climate of Senegal during the presidential terms

of Abdou Diouf.

Diouf’s Rebuttal: A Change in the Climate

Diouf graduated from La Sorbonne in Paris in 1959 and quickly ascended through

the governmental ranks after returning to Senegal in 1960. Though Diouf was one of the

younger staff members appointed by Senghor and was groomed to be successor, Diouf’s

presidency was markedly different. During the first decade of Diouf’s presidency,

relations between government and artists were contentious. In addition to forcibly

shutting down the Village des Arts, a bazaar where artists congregated, Diouf took the

Musée Dynamique, the temple to African art Senghor built for FESMAN, and

                                                                                                                         27 Harney also suggests that FESMAN was so successful due to its coinciding with the

Black Power and civil rights movement in the United States; the exploration of and pride for one’s race was at a new international high. Ibid., 78.

 

  12

redesignated it as the new Supreme Court building. He also closed the National Tapestry

factory and the Senegalese Cultural Archives that Senghor had founded. In 1983, Diouf

refurbished an old building in the downtown Plateau area, dubbing it the Galerie

Nationale, and the artists mounted their first salon in this new site to little fanfare.28

By this point, an affluent Nigeria had hosted the Second World Festival of Black

and African Arts and Culture in 1977 (FESTAC ‘77) and the Festival was set to return to

Senegal in the late 80s in its new form as the Pan-African Festival of Arts and Culture

(FESPAC). To the chagrin of artists, Diouf announced the postponement of the event in

1986, and then again in 1988. Critics speculated whether the cancellation was an attempt

to distance himself from Senghor’s legacy or to curb governmental spending. In any case,

the decision was an unpopular one. With no traveling exhibition of Senegalese art, no

Festival to attract international attention, and no Musée Dynamique to showcase the

country’s prestige, Senegal was falling from its position as continental visionary and,

thus, losing its authority as porte-parole.29 The artists’ complaints regarding the

government’s failure to promote Senegalese art on the international circuit were finally

met with seemingly positive news: Diouf announced that the state would establish a

biennial.

                                                                                                                         28 Thomas Fillitz, “Worldmaking–The Cosmopolitanization of Dak’Art, the Art Biennale

of Dakar,” Website of Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, 2011.

29 French for “one who speaks on behalf” or “spokesperson,” this is a term I am

borrowing from Ferdinand de Jong where he discusses this idea of the Senegalese president as one who speaks for Africa—to other African nations, to Western audiences, etc. See his article de Jong and Foucher, “La tragédie du roi Abdoulaye?” 2010: 195.

 

  13

Diouf and the Dakar Biennale: DAK’ART for the Visual Arts (1992)

In 1989, Diouf announced the creation of a biennial which would alternate

between literary and visual arts. While the Dak’Art official website states that the

Biennale was the creation of the State of Senegal, artists, like Viyé Diba, contend it was

their idea. Diba contends that the government supported the Biennale merely for its

potential as a “powerful instrument of cultural politics.”30 Considering Diouf’s previous

lack of interest in the arts or in cultivating a Senegalese or Pan-African culture, Diba’s

assertion aligns with other critics’ reading of Diouf’s intentions: that is, that the

establishment of this biennial was primarily driven by political and economic motives,

particularly after the Festival was cancelled. As one coordinator explains: “The

government became involved with FESPAC with the hope that it would boost Senegal’s

tourism industry and serve as a potential source of cultural legitimacy for Diouf.”31

However, the popular narrative of Diouf’s defunct cultural policy may not be as

simple as it is characterized to be. Diouf was already working in Senghor’s cabinet

during FESMAN of 1966 and several photos prove that he was intimately involved with

the official programme, frequently one step behind Senghor (Figures 3, 4). In addition to

his official position with the government, he held a title within the Festival’s organization

structure. Diouf was a member of the Comité d’honneur for FESMAN, along with

                                                                                                                         30 The first edition of the biennial that Diouf instituted happened in 1990 and was

dedicated to the literary arts—this biennial was never repeated. For the 1992 editions, the first dedicated to the visuals arts, also took the name Dak’Art, a portmanteau of Dakar and Art. The artists claim credit, in particular, for the Biennale of visual arts, or Dak’Art. Viyé Diba, “Dak'Art 2006: A View from the Inside,” African Arts, vol. 39, issue 4 (Winter 2006): 62.

31 Snipe, Arts and Politics, 1998: 67.

 

  14

Georges Pompidou, André Malraux, and nine others. Perhaps his lack of cultural policy

during the 1970s was actually an attempt to distance himself from his predecessor and

refrain from mimicry that would cause other world leaders to decry him as Senghor’s

puppet. Diouf might even have been honoring the value Senghor placed on arts by not

copying what he saw and learned from him, and instead instituting different policies that

complemented Senghor’s legacy.

Though Diouf was clearly not a grand mécène like Senghor, it is not accurate to

state that he was apathetic to the arts or ignorant on cultural policy; his ability lay

somewhere between the two, but definitely not where the artists of Senegal wished. The

tension between Diouf and artists continued to broil, as the artists restlessly waited

through the 1990 literary Biennale for their exposure to the international art scene in 1992

via the first Biennale for visual arts.

There are few extant sources covering the 1992 Biennale;32 this silence shows the

lack of impact it had on audiences abroad and represents a stark contrast to the numerous

accounts from FESMAN. In scholarship on Senegalese art, one frequently reiterated

tagline is that the Biennale was the inheritor of the 1966 Festival.33 In calling for Dakar to

                                                                                                                         32 Confirmed by Iolanda Pensa in her dissertation which compiled all references to the

early biennials. See “La Biennale de Dakar comme projet de coopération et de développement,” Lille: Atelier national de Reproduction des Thèses, 2012. Reproduction de: Thèse doctorat: Ethnologie et anthropologie sociale: Milan, Politecnico di Milano: 2011: 82. Elizabeth Harney also suggests that a lack of local art criticism, whose absence is rooted in cultural politeness, may account for the relative silence regarding Dak’Art ’92: “…talk about the works one appreciates positively and pass the others by in silence…” Harney, In Senghor’s Shadow, 2004: 238. Based on this, the silence may be read as a damning one.

33 Though recent scholarship on the biennial generally does not acknowledge that the

Biennale claims to be the heir of FESMAN, this connection appears mostly in

 

  15

once again serve as a crossroads for artists in the United States, Europe, and Africa,

Dak’Art ‘92 was taking up the mantle of FESMAN.

The link between the Biennale and that vibrant spirit of Senghor was strengthened

in 1990 when Diouf dedicated the first edition to Senghor, who returned from Paris for

the event. Although Diouf touted “Most assuredly, it is the hour for culture and for

liberty” at the inauguration, he was perceived as lackluster in his support for the arts. 34 In

actuality, Senghor was more restrictive of artistic freedom and less open to individual

styles.35 In fact, he cultivated a very specific aesthetic through the Ecole de Beaux-Arts at

the expense of artists’ liberty—a fact which reflects his rarely discussed censorship of

oppositional political parties. Not withstanding this, popular perception maintained that

Diouf was not a good advocate for Senegal’s artists because they lacked international

visibility.

Yet if Diouf spent the majority of his twenty years in office distancing himself

from Senghor, especially in cultural policy, then why did he establish this biennial and

dedicate it to his predecessor? Far from viewing art as a locus for national or racial

identity, and in opposition to the Négritudinist view of culture as necessary to the soul,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         reviews of earlier Biennales and in most official Dak’Art publications. Some sources that discuss the Biennale as inheriting the legacy of FESMAN follow: Christian Hanussek, “The Context of the Dakar Biennale?” Third Text, vol. 18, issue 1 (2004): 84. Zaya, “On Dak'Art 92,” 1993: 126. Harney, Senghor’s Shadow: 222.

34 “C'est bien l'heure de la culture et de la liberte,” as cited by Pensa, “La Biennale de

Dakar,” 2012: 80. 35 Snipe, Art and Politics, 1998: 85.

 

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Diouf’s primary concern in reaching out to artists appears to have stemmed from

commercial interests.

Festivals promoted tourism and garnered cultural prestige for the nation, elevating

the status of the country in foreign eyes. But there remains the question of why Diouf

would implement an art biennial over a more generic ‘cultural’ Festival, or even a

technologically themed Expo that aligned with his socially progressive administration.

The answer to this question lies in the groundwork that was laid by the 1966 FESMAN.

Senegal had been on the radar of the international community for nearly thirty years—

ever since its independence—as an authority on historic and contemporary African art.

By aligning his Biennale with the “euphoric climate” that permeated the 1966 Festival for

culture,36 Diouf’s Senegal could develop “a project linked to Africa and to its economic

development… [to] the market for African art…[and to] the possibilities of employment

for artists…”37 He would simultaneously reclaim the Senegalese precedence for Pan-

African collaboration in order to legitimize himself as one who spoke on behalf of the

entire continent.

Where FESMAN was limited to the black artists of Africa and the Diaspora, the

first manifestation of the Biennale was dedicated to global contemporary art, though

Europeans, African-Americans, and Senegalese participants far outweighed

                                                                                                                         36 Harney, In Senghor’s Shadow, 2004: 77. 37 “Un projet lié à l'Afrique et à son développement économique : le marché de l'art

africain… possibilités d'emploi pour les artistes… l'Afrique au circuit international de l'art… l'intérêt panafricain…” Pensa, “La Biennale de Dakar,” 2012: 84.

 

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representatives from other regions.38 The global nature of the first biennial for visual arts

seemed to honor the Senegalese artists’ request to participate in a larger exchange of

contemporary artistic production. After all, the artists had implored Diouf for almost a

decade to follow the Constitution and assert his role as Protector of the Arts.39 Once

again, the recurring argument that it is the president’s responsibility to promote the

nation’s artists and their work, especially beyond the national stage, underscores the

cultural expectations of the Senegalese artists that were established under Senghor.

The Biennale’s official theme was “Arts et Regards Croisés sur l’Afrique” with

the main exhibition in a pavilion beside the arcane ethnographic-turned-art museum

(Musée Théodore Monod d’Art Africain). This new exhibition space, built as a gift by the

North Koreans, carried the appropriate glitz for Senegal’s latest attempt at courting the

global art scene. The budget for the Biennale came from the Senegalese government and

French sources (a trend that continues today with Eiffage, a France-based construction

company, being the primary sponsor of Dak’Art) though the collaboration was not

entirely cordial. One historian’s account noted the tension between French and African

                                                                                                                         38 Countries represented include Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Canada, the U.S.,

Martinique, Mauritius, and a few African countries: Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, The Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Zaire. Even though Senegal did boast a more prolific art scene than most other African nations, the balance of representation was disproportionately one-sided. Additionally, Yacouba Konaté recounts how several of the ‘representatives’ of other countries were actually expatriates who had been living in Senegal for an extended time. It seems that these labels were employed merely to add international flair. For more, see Konaté, La Biennale de Dakar: Pour une esthétique de la création africaine contemporaine—tête à tête avec Adorno, Paris : L’Harmattan, 2009: 50.

39 Remi Sagna, as cited in Pensa, “La Biennale de Dakar,” 2012: 77.

 

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art brokers who argued over control of affairs at the Biennale’s symposium.40 Several

French critics stubbornly held to their ‘expertise’ in the field of critical art discourse and

refused to give authority to the African participants in the panels, leading to shouting

matches at the symposium.41

Topics at the official symposium included the reception of African art, the future

of art criticism in Africa, and modernity in African art—themes not unlike those at the

FESMAN symposium. After the biennial ran its weeklong course, the same duration as

FESMAN, complaints surfaced from African artists who felt undervalued by the

organizers. Their works were lost or damaged, both en route and during installation, and

there was no integration of artists into the inauguration, the symposium, or the

vernissages—nothing on the official programme of events. There was little opportunity

for the dialogue and exchange that artists had regarded as the real reasons for the event.

Mexico-based Senegalese painter Ery Camara feared for his work, opting instead for

private showings in his hotel room. Established artists Ousmane Sow, Joe Ouakam, and El

Sy were among those who refused to participate, feeling “deeply ill at ease with the

heavy-handedness of the Ministry of Culture.”42 The clash of ideology, then, extended

beyond old Franco-Senegalese tensions and affected even intra-national parties. There was

a pervasive sentiment that the Biennale was another “government attempt to attract more

                                                                                                                         40 Clémentine Deliss, “Dak'Art 92: Where Internationalism Falls Apart,” African Arts,

vol. 26, no. 3 (July 1993): 20. 41 Ibid., 23. 42 Ibid.

 

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tourists to Senegal” 43 instead of a productive and honorific reintegration of culture into

Senegalese policy—one where creators were valued for artistic merit, not as curiosity-

producers for adventuresome travelers.

Amadou Lamine Sall, Secretary General of the Biennale for 1990 and 1992, later

wrote an essay concerning those seminal editions of the biennial.44 He decried the

formative years, citing the inflexibility of the Culture of Ministry and the inaccessibility of

President Diouf for their ineffectiveness in innovatively presenting Africa on its own

terms. Clementine Deliss echoed these sentiments and outlined how the Biennale was

appropriate to Senegal, given its artistic heritage under Senghor. She specifically cited the

wondrous memories from the 1966 Festival, but confessed that she suspected this

biennial’s foundation to be related to the upcoming 1993 election. She argued, “If there

was a political agenda behind the seeming dedication to art by Diouf's socialist

government, it was to co-opt "international" strategies in view of establishing a more

successful distribution and commercialization of contemporary art in Africa.”45

Deliss’ remarks underscore a comparison with Senghor’s FESMAN, where the

mounting of a cultural event simultaneously served the purpose of positioning the host

country—Senegal—as an authority on Africa, or “contemporary art in Africa,” and bearer

of the porte-parole. Deliss was not alone in questioning the politicization of Senegal’s

respected heritage in the arts. Critic Octavio Zaya stated bluntly that Dak'Art ‘92 was

                                                                                                                         43 Snipe, Art and Politics, 1998: 70. 44 Amadou Lamine Sall, “La Biennale de l’art africain contemporain: exister ou périr !”

AfriCultures, n.d. Web. 02 December 2012. 45 Deliss, “Dak'Art 92,” 1993: 18.

 

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fundamentally a political act, a "prestige show… to promote president Abdou Diouf’s

reelection campaign whose government [had been] distinguished by… absolute

indifference towards cultural issues… It was a political venture financed by the

government."46

In addition to the protesting artists, critics denounced the selection committee for

choosing artists based on their previous work instead of their proposals, for inviting

friends to participate rather than widening the call for submissions, and for the lackluster

presentation of substandard artworks, and for the lack of Pan-African representation.47

Deliss argued that a Pan-African biennial would be an “aesthetic and cultural bombshell,”

acknowledging the potential for gathering isolated artists so as to construct dialogues on

contemporary practice in Africa.48

The minimalist pieces exhibited were derided for being “extremely academic,

conservative, and lacking in any kind of coherent context,” and whose “absence of any

socio-political content” was not reflective of contemporaneous social events, particularly

in Africa.49 While the quality of the works varied, contributions by artists who typify the

climate of the time (and were subsequently forgotten by history) reflect the critiques of

sterility and pseudo-intellectualism (Figures 5, 6). Senegalese critics focused their concern

                                                                                                                         46 Zaya, “On Dak'Art 92,” 1993: 126-7. 47 Diba, “Dak'Art 2006,” 2006: 62 and Deliss, “Dak'Art 92,” 1993: 20. 48 Ibid. It is interesting to note that a major critique of Dak’Art 1992 was the lack of

African nations represented in the main international exhibition. However, I wonder if this is a critique of the construction of the event or of it is more related to an unmet expectation established by the diversity of participants at FESMAN.

49 Zaya, “On Dak'Art 92,” 1993: 126-7.

 

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on the fear that culture would be relegated to a specific, seasonal event and that by

institutionalizing the arts with a biennial, the spirit that pervaded the nation under Senghor

would be lost.50 Critics also sensed a lack of authenticity from organizers, calling it an

“international project of development and cooperation in which art and culture were

considered as handmaidens in the service of the economy and the market.”51 Ultimately,

the absence of the artists from dialogue surrounding the programme marked the Biennale

as a misguided venture, effective merely as cultural tourism.

Though the 1966 Festival had also been a political tool for Senghor, neither the

historical nor the recent analyses characterize the atmosphere of FESMAN as a capitalist

or economic venture. There was, at that historical moment, a highmindedness to Senghor’s

philosophy and he nurtured the artistic sensibility of Africans who might join him as he

negotiated African identity in a postcolonial world. Perhaps due to Diouf’s lack of a

guiding philosophy and ineffective cultural policy, his biennial was negatively received

for his privileging of international relations over the voices of Senegal’s own artists.

Though Diouf’s biennial was rhetorically linked to Senghor and his beneficent patronage,

the foundation of the Biennale did not boast the same clear, unified, empowering message

as Senghor’s FESMAN. Given the local and international critique of the 1992 Biennale, if

Diouf had truly desired to promote contemporary Senegalese art, revisions would be

necessary to elevate his new institution to the level that FESMAN held in the public

memory.

                                                                                                                         50 Snipe summarizes these anxieties, Arts and Politics, 1998: 70. 51 Pensa, “La Biennale de Dakar,” 2012: 84.

 

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Where it is not the aim of this paper to recount the evolution of the Dak’Art

Biennale over the last twenty years, it is necessary to understand that the Biennale as an

institution underwent significant transformation after the 1992 edition. As it spanned the

tenures of Abdoulaye Wade (active 2001-2012) and Macky Sall (2012-present), it

became another event which presented Senegal as a crossroads for continental and

diasporic African artists. The Dak’Art Biennale is arguably the most significant

contribution by an African nation to the internationalized twenty-first century art scene. It

now stands as the longest-running, recurring art event on the continent, predating and

outlasting similar events in Johannesburg, Cairo, or Bamako. This Biennale, now a

mainstay on the globetrotting curator’s circuit, carries the weight of Senegal’s complex

historical relationship between presidential patronage and contemporary artistic

production.

To understand why the Dak’Art Biennale was able to endure the tension,

underfunding and international critique, it is necessary to comprehend the degree to

which Senegal’s postcolonial identity is founded upon its preeminence in the arts,

particularly when compared to the other African countries. The Dak’Art Biennale would

not have been founded, nor would it have persisted, if the First World Festival of Negro

Arts had not successfully elevated Senegal to be an international center of African artistic

production and a voice of authority on African culture. Though Diouf’s initial attempts at

cultural policy were not immediately accepted, the dissatisfied public response does not

compare to the vitriolic ones Wade would receive for his artistic contributions as

“Protector of the Arts.”

 

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Wade and the African Renaissance Monument (2010): Third President, Same Generation

Abdoulaye Wade (active 2000-2012) was a rival politician throughout the

Senghor and Diouf administrations, running for president four times before being elected.

At eighty-four years old in 2010, Wade was the remnant of Senghor’s generation and the

proponent of a similarly antiquated ideology. He espoused his own particular brand of

“African Renaissance,” a cultural movement that, like Négritude, stresses unity among

African peoples. In accordance with this idealistic, post-colonial, post-nation view, Wade

championed for organizations of unification, such as the United States of Africa.

Translated into the cultural sphere, Wade’s primary legacy to the Senegalese artistic

landscape as president was a 164-foot tall bronze entitled African Renaissance Monument

which refers to the resurgence of Africa in the 21st century (Figures 7, 8).

Significant as the 50th anniversary of Senegal’s independence, 2010 was a

celebration of the arts with the inauguration of the monument and the revival of

FESMAN through the Third World Festival of Black Art.52 This new iteration of

FESMAN, which sported Wade’s ideology of “African Renaissance” as the theme, is

another instance of presidential ideology shaping the Dakar art scene. 53 This Festival

(which was scarcely documented and focused on the musical arts rather than the visual or

plastic arts) took place across the city. Several musicians performed with the African

Renaissance Monument as their backdrop—actual and ideological.

                                                                                                                         52 Hannah Pool, “World Festival of Black Arts: A Once in a Decade Event”, The

Guardian, 3 January 2011. 53 René Massiga Diouf, “FESMAN III – A Global Celebration of African Culture”,

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Magazine, February 2011.

 

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The African Renaissance Monument depicts three figures—a man, woman, and

child—emerging triumphantly from the interior of a jagged volcano (Figure 9). The man

is the central figure; he looks out over the Atlantic Ocean. With a swollen chest, he boasts

superhuman musculature and is clothed only in a kufi style hat and a wrap around his

waist. His right arm embraces a female figure who leans into the man, standing on the

balls of her feet and throwing her right arm behind her. Her hair blows in the wind, along

with part of her sheer wrap, exposing her legs and leaving only her torso covered. Seated

on the man’s left arm is a nude child, presumably male, whose left arm gesticulates over

the Atlantic.

According to Wade, this monument serves simultaneously as a memorial for the

past, a celebration for the present, and a hope for the future. It symbolizes “the triumph of

African liberation over centuries of ignorance, intolerance and racism.”54 “C’est l’Afrique

sortant des entrailles de la terre, quittant l’obscurantisme pour aller vers la lumière.”55 Its

orientation overlooking the Atlantic is meant to be a reminder of the link between

continental Africa and the Diaspora, specifically those Africans living in the Americas.56

Additionally, the Renaissance Monument was built to promote tourism; Wade wanted it

to rival the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower but stand as a symbol for Pan-

African—not just national—pride.

                                                                                                                         54 Sheriff Bojang Jnr, "Statue of Controversy," New African, no. 495 (May 2010): 62. 55 “It is Africa coming out of the depths of the earth, leaving obscurity and going into the

light.” Sabine Cessou,“Les colosses de Dakar,” Libération, 17 December 2009. 56 Elinor Tatum and Curtis Simmons, "African Renaissance Monument Unveiled," New

York Amsterdam News, 8 April 2010: 2.

 

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At the dedication ceremony on April 3rd, 2010, a panoply of international

luminaries was present: 19 African heads of state, the Reverend Jesse Jackson, North

Korea’s President of the Presidium Kim Yong Nam, Senegalese rapper Akon from the

U.S., Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a coalition from NAACP, and

dignitaries from around the globe joined the tens of thousands who stood in the

monument’s shadow.57

The dedication of the monument was just one event in a weekend that celebrated

Senegal’s independence. It is significant that the larger context included symposia,

performances, and speeches centered on the United States of Africa, an initiative

championed by Wade and supported by the African Union. Thus the “Renaissance,”

along with the pervasive rhetoric of strength, promise, and growth, fits into a larger

cultural discussion concerning the future direction for Africa. This is a discussion in

which Wade aspires for the role of porte-parole. Having penned the lyrics to the African

Renaissance Anthem—and led the other heads of state in singing it (Figure 10)—Wade is

one of the most vocal African leaders to promote unification, evidenced by his

conception and creation of the African Renaissance Monument.

In the face of several controversies—ranging from the indecency of the semi-nude

figures in a conservative Muslim nation, to the subjugated role of the woman, to the neo-

Stalinist style of the figures who exhibit a hyper-muscular, physiognomy that does not

reflect African body types—the monument was completed in 2010. In addition to the

aesthetic concerns and the complaints that the African artists were not more involved in

the creative process, the primary objection to the Renaissance Monument was the cost.

                                                                                                                         57 Ibid.

 

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Critics pointed to the lack of electricity in the adjacent Ouakam district, the encroaching

desert in the northern Louga region, and the soaring cost of food across the nation as

more pressing issues than the monument, a project which was estimated to cost twenty-

seven million dollars.

Ownership of the Renaissance Monument became a point of debate when

President Wade declared he would personally retain one third of the monument’s

revenue, claiming that the statue is his intellectual property and the product of his own

artistry, an act which has been called a “Stalinian gesture in a neoliberal epoch.”58 While

some sources mention the influence of other artists in the creation of the monument,

scholars and artists contest to what degree each of these others might claim some

authorship over the final product.59

Wade’s claim to authorship is recounted in his book, Un destin pour l’Afrique; he

recounts his mental process of choosing the number of figures and who they would

                                                                                                                         58 The Monument was initially a multi-functional site—the ground floor would have a

museum while the upper levels would be leased out to small boutiques. The final attraction is an elevator that ascends to the hat of the male figure, much like the attraction within the Statue of Liberty. The entrance fees, plus profits from any tourist memorabilia created for the attraction, are what Wade was claiming. He later clarified that his earnings would not be for himself, but donated to his daughter’s philanthropy for homeless children. de Jong and Foucher, “La tragédie du roi Abdoulaye?” 2010: 190.

59 These artists are Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow, Romanian-born French artist

Virgil Magherusan, Senegalese architect Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, and the North Korean Mansudae Art Project Studio. Some sources that discuss the other ‘artists,’ at least in passing, are as follows: de Jong and Foucher, “La tragédie du roi Abdoulaye?” 2010. See also Sean O’Toole, “Made in Pyongyang,” Frieze, no. 147 (May 2012) and Amy Niang, “African Renaissance, Reloaded: The Old Man, the Behemoth and the Impossible Legacy,” Pambazuka News, Issue 475, 25 March 2010 and Angie Baecker,"Hollow Monuments," Art AsiaPacific, no. 72 (March 2011): 63-64.

 

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represent. The idea for a monument to a liberated Africa had been germinating in his

head since he was a Minister of the State in the 1980s until he began an informal

discussion of the concept with celebrated Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow in 1996.60

Even though groundbreaking began in 2002, there is no proof of design until 2008 when

Wade secured a patent in several countries for some very simple sketches, supposedly

drawn by his own hand (Figure 11). It later came to light these were based on the design

Wade commissioned from French artist Virgil Magherusan (called Virgil) in 2003

(Figure 12), a commission for which Wade never paid the fee.61 In the end, Wade gave

the commission to the Mansudae Art Studio because of their competitive rates, telling the

Wall Street Journal, “I had no money... only the North Koreans could build my statue.”62

Pierre Goudiaby Atepa, the celebrated Senegalese architect who also serves as the

‘official special architectural consultant to the president,’ was later appointed to direct the

project.

Ousmane Sow renounces any connection between his model and the Renaissance

Monument; Virgil never heard more of the project until he was contacted for an interview

in 2010 and learned that Wade proceeded with his model without further consultation;

Atepa maintains that he merely negotiated a staff of North Korean workers from

Mansudae to erect President Wade’s vision. And so stands this monument, whose artistry

is attributable only to Wade, as a representation of Africans globally—but especially

                                                                                                                         60 Cessou,“Les colosses de Dakar,” 2013. 61 Magherusan worked with Wade, visiting Dakar in 2003. He never heard any followup

on the project until he heard of the monument’s inauguration in 2010 on the news. Ibid.

62 Baecker, "Hollow Monuments," 2011: 64.

 

  28

dedicated to the jeunesse (youth) for whom Wade inscribed a message at the monument’s

base: “Si un jour tes pas te portent au pied de ce Monument, pense à tous ceux qui ont

sacrifié leur liberté ou leur vie pour la Renaissance de l’Afrique.”63

The African Renaissance as a political philosophy is somewhat outdated; it was

championed in 1999 by South African president Thabo Mbeki, an extension of the United

States of Africa concept which is rooted in Marcus Garvey’s espousals of 1924.

Octogenarian Wade is one of the last supporters of this cause, evidenced by his policies

and their expression through his cultural contributions. The Renaissance Monument has

renewed interest in a Pan-African spirit that champions unity and modernism as tools for

progress, but many leading African theorists are cautious. Lamenting the Renaissance

Monument, Simon Njami warns that “we are looking backwards again” with the outdated

ideology of African Renaissance.64 Sean O’Toole echoes that “unavoidably, African

optimism is presented as a kind of nostalgia” in the same way the Senegal’s Cheikh Anta

Diop once looked to Egypt to legitimize and historicize the ancestors of West Africa.65

Like the contested authorship of the monument, the agenda behind this

‘Renaissance’ is convoluted and tangled. Is it a throwback to an old-garde philosophy,

which is visually echoed by the outmoded social realism style? Is the renaissance

motivated by shifting political spaces and new relationships between Africa, the Middle

East, and the Far East that are not mediated by Euro-American supervision? Though there

                                                                                                                         63 “If one day your feet should lead you to the base of this Monument, think of all those

who sacrificed their liberty or their lives for the Renaissance of Africa.” 64 O’Toole, “Made in Pyongyang,” 2012. 65 Ibid.

 

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were calls for dismantling the Renaissance Monument, it remains open to visitors.

Monument director Abdel Kader Pierre Fall is sure that the creation will survive the

turmoil and will become integral to the Ouakam neighborhood, even complementing a

new business and shopping district, in addition to becoming a destination for school

groups and educational tours.66

Despite the contention surrounding the statue, the Senegalese public was not

necessarily against the building of such a monument. Though there were protests

throughout construction, at least some members of the community supported the concept,

believing that Africans will benefit from seeing themselves represented “en grande” and

that it will eventually become a national symbol. 67 Regardless of the popularity of his

contribution, Wade has merely followed precedence and impacted the continental art

scene, acted as a patron for the arts, and used the occasion as a springboard for larger,

intra-African aspirations. Instead of dedicating a new bridge or a skyscraper in honor of

his guiding philosophy—this vision of Renaissance he casts on behalf of the entire

continent—he chose a visual, artistic medium to convey his ideology.

While it may be more difficult to draw a comparison from FESMAN and Dak’Art

to the Renaissance Monument, since the former were transitory events and the latter is a

permanent object, strong connections do exist. These connections are visible when all

three are viewed as sites where the president enacted policy related to African art as he

represented Senegal before an international audience. In all three cases, national

                                                                                                                         66 Pa Assane Seck, “''C'est devenu une réalité'': Interview with Abdel Kader Pierre Fall-

Directeur du Monument de la Renaissance,” EnQuête+ (EnQuêtePlus.com), 15 April 2012.

67 Cheikh Seck, “Wade et sa statue”, JeuneAfrique, 30 August 2010.

 

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resources were allotted to promote culture as a way of propagating a national and

continental ideology that would result—they hoped—in the Senegalese president gaining

authority to speak for Africans. The statue may still be clouded by controversies, but it is

nevertheless possible to define a common thread running from FESMAN through

Dak’Art and even through this monument: because of Senegal’s demonstrated status as a

leader in African art, proven over decades of investment, promotion, and production, the

president garners international authority, ultimately leading to Senegal’s claiming of the

porte-parole.

The monument, which Wade “authored” in the way that a medieval painter

directed a workshop, generated discourse on the status of contemporary African art

within every social stratum: from scandalized and scandalizing reporters to inquiring

scholars, from governmental employees to the ubiquitous taxi drivers. For the third time

in Senegal’s history, a president’s career will not be defined only by his policies,

economics, and personage, but also by a legacy of his involvement—positive, negative,

or scandalous—with the art scene. While it may be tempting to treat this Renaissance

Monument episode as the megalomania of an incompetent, corrupt leader (a popular trope

for African heads of state in Western journalism), it is clear that the unique artistic

climate in Senegal encourages, even demands, the president to act as an arbiter for

African art through his cultural policy.

Far from being inherent to the presidency or to Senegalese identity in 1960, this

expectation is an accumulated one, tied to historical precedent. Senghor set the bar with

FESMAN in 1966 and through his patronage of the traveling Ecole de Beaux-Arts

exhibitions. Diouf and Wade were subsequently evaluated by the Senegalese, by African

 

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artists, and by African art scholars worldwide. This expectation now is inherent to the

presidency, though how he applies it to Dakar’s art scene is subjective—this subjectivity

accounts for the divergent ways in which the presidents have attempted to meet the

expectation: events, Festivals, symposia, biennials, monuments.

Conclusion: New Generation, New Application?

Born in 1961 into postcolonial Senegal and the first to take a Senegalese wife,

Sall represents a vast departure from the nation’s first three presidents whose intellectual

and marital ties were in France. Upon taking office in 2012, Macky Sall opposed the

Renaissance Monument, calling for a full inquiry behind the obfuscated monetary

transactions that funded its construction.68 However, an opposition does not a cultural

policy make. As I have reiterated throughout this study, culture is at the core of the

nation’s identity, based on the precedent established by a single event in 1966 and

confirmed through the subsequent artistic institutions. Sall has not yet demonstrated how

his own policies will affect the complex relationship among the Senegalese artists, the

government, and the international art market. To date, Sall has practically been a non-

factor in Dakar’s art sector, leaving scholars uncertain about the longevity of Senegal’s

cultural authority.

Though he reacted against the Renaissance Monument, Sall was initially

supportive of the Dak’Art Biennale. Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi noted that “President

                                                                                                                         68 This has been reported by several local news sources. See Seneweb News, “Audit :

L'Ige va déshabiller la statue de la Renaissance de Wade,” Seneweb News, 11 January 2013. See also Mohamed Gueye, “AUDIT - Financement et réalisation de la statue de Wade à Ouakam : L’Ige visite le monument de la renaissance,” Le Quotidien, 2013.

 

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Macky Sall, whose presidency was inaugurated a month [before] Dak’Art 2012,

reiterated the commitment of the Senegalese government to the biennale as the engine of

cultural development in Senegal and Africa at the opening ceremony.”69

However, at Dak’Art 2014, the first Biennale which was executed entirely during

his presidency, Sall made no appearances. Even though the invitation to the inauguration

and the website’s schedule both stated that Sall would attend, he was notably absent; the

government was represented instead by Abdou Aziz Mbaye, Minister of Culture and

Heritage. Mbaye also stood in for the president during the official tour of the

International Exposition of the Biennale, even though a military contingency had arrived

the day before to prepare the grounds for the presidential visit. If Sall “has a vision and an

ambition for culture” it is unclear what platform he will be using to enact it.70

One possible direction for culture under the Sall administration is a new focus on

state-directed institutions for the arts—especially museums. During her speech at the

inauguration, Thérèse Turpin Diatta, president of the Dak’Art orientation committee,

confidently cited President Sall’s ability to finally reclaim the Musée Dynamique for

African artists, stating that it is embarrassing for Senegal, as an international leader in

contemporary African art, to be without a museum to permanently showcase it. This

museum was the same that Senghor built for FESMAN, where it housed traditional and

                                                                                                                         69 Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, “Dak’Art 2012: Prospects and Challenges,” Nafas Art

Magazine, June 2012. 70 “Et on est peiné pour le Président Macky Sall qui a une vision et une ambition pour la

culture, mais son Ministre ne sait pas la convertir.” Amadou Daouda Ndiaye, “DAK'ART 2014 - La biennale perd son éclat et sombre,” Sud Quotidien, 9 May 2014.

 

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contemporary art, and which Diouf turned over to the government for use as the nation’s

supreme court building.

Currently, the major museum in Dakar is the Théodore Monod Musée d’Art

Africain, which is associated with IFAN (Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire), itself an

extension of Cheikh Anta Diop University. Built in 1931 by colonial authorities, this

aging museum houses the nation’s collection of traditional arts and, occasionally,

contemporary art on the second floor. This building, along with the adjacent structure

built for the 1992 Biennale, was the primary site for the Biennale until 201, when the

International Exposition was moved. Concerned that the museum was an antiquated and

unsatisfactory exhibition space, organizers took a risk and placed the International

Exposition in the warehouses of a television studio. If the IFAN Museum is losing

prestige, Sall might capitalize on the opportunity to reinstitute the Musée Dynamique to

fill the void.

A second move which might indicate the Sall administration’s interest in leaving

a museological legacy is his interest in acquiring the Musée Boribana. Musée Boribana is

the oldest contemporary art museum in Africa, founded in 1997; however, it remains

relatively unknown outside of the initiated even though it is decidedly one of Dakar’s

most beautiful and well-kept exhibition spaces. Boubacar Koné, the aging Senegalese

founder of this private museum, confided that he is in conversation with Macky Sall to

donate the museum, its library, and its collections to the state as part of the patrimoine at

the end of 2014.71 Ms. Diatta certainly knew of Musée Boribana when she claimed that

                                                                                                                         71 Conversations with the author, May/June 2014.

 

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Senegal’s lack of a contemporary art museum was a glaring oversight. Perhaps Sall is

orchestrating a glorious debut for the two museums as part of Senegal’s dedication to

contemporary art?

Sall is still early in his term as president and as a representative of the younger

generation and it remains unclear how his policy will align or diverge from that of his

predecessors. History has proven, though, that Sall will be evaluated—locally and

internationally—based upon his government’s rapport with art. Though his exact plans

have yet to be revealed, he is sure to face the persistent expectation of presidential

support for the arts.

The roots of this expectation are practically impossible to avoid, for the first

question posed to the 2014 Dak’Art curators was “Will you refer to festivals such as

FESMAN and include them in your conceptual thoughts?”72 Clearly, whenever we

address the topic of art promotion by the Senegalese president for an international

audience, the legacy of Senghor’s FESMAN lives on. This weeklong festival in 1966

established Senegal as a leader of African art exhibitions and demonstrated an ability to

manage this feat on a global platform. FESMAN also ingrained the notion of

governmental support and promotion of the arts as inherent to the nation’s identity—in

the minds of both the Senegalese people and the global audience. Perhaps the precedence

of president as “Protector of the Arts” will end with Sall’s generation of politicians.

However, the local and international expectations for the president as cultural advocate

will not fade quickly, nor without contention.

                                                                                                                         72 C&, ”Interview with Curators of Dak’Art 2014,” 2013.

 

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Figure 1. Papa Ibra Tall, Couple royale, tapestry, 1965, Collection of l’Institut Francais.

Figure 2. Ibou Diouf, Les trois épouses, 1974, wool.

 

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Figure 3. Abdou Diouf shown on left in black suit with face turned toward camera, following President Senghor and guests up the stairs at FESMAN. Photo credit: Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. Paris: Imprimerie Bouchet-Lakara, 1967: 31.

Figure 4. From right to left, painter Iba N’Diaye, President Senghor, French Minister of Cultural Affairs André Malraux, Madame Senghor (Colette Hubert), and painter Pierre Lods. Abdou Diouf, the tallest figure in the group at 6’ 6”, is partially visible behind Malraux. Photo credit: Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres. Paris: Imprimerie Bouchet-Lakara, 1967: 68.

 

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Figure 5. Mamadou SEYA N’Diaye, Tatouage IV, oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm, from the Dak’Art 1992 catalogue, p. 49.

Figure 6. Pape Youssou N’Diaye, Untitled, taken from the Dak’Art 1992 catalogue, p. 54.

 

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Figure 7. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze.

Figure 8. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze.

 

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Figure 9. Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2010, bronze.

Figure 10. African heads of state at the dedication included the president of Malawi and the African Union Bingu wa Mutharika, the former African Union Commission chair Jean Ping, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Presidents of Benin, Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Gambia, Liberia, Mali, and Mauritania. Heads of state are shown here singing the African Renaissance Anthem, penned by Abdoulaye Wade. Photo credit: Edna Onwuchekwa, African Renaissance Monument: Origin, History, Significance, Enugu, Nigeria: SNAAP Press, Ltd., 2010: 9.

 

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Figure 11. Abdoulaye Wade, Patent for the Monument de la Renaissance Africaine, 2008.

Figure 12. Virgil Magherusan, La Renaissance Africaine, bronze, 48 cm, edition 2/8, 2003.

 

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General Bibliography Gouard, Caroline. “Dynamiques de la création picturale sénégalaise contemporaine,” Anthropos, vo. 88 no. 1 (1993): 77-86. Grabski, Joanna. “Painting Fictions/Painting History: Modernist Pioneers at Senegal’s Ecole des Arts,” African Arts, vol. 39, no. 1 (Spring 2006): 38-49, 93-94. Grabski, Joanna. “Urban Claims and Visual Sources in the Making of Dakar's Art World City,” Art Journal, vol. 68, no. 1: 6-23. Harney, Elizabeth. In Senghor’s Shadow, Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. Harney, Elizabeth. “The Ecole de Dakar: Pan-Africanism in Paint and Textiles,” African Arts, vol. 35, no. 3 (2002): 12-31. Pataux, Bernard. “Senegalese Art Today,” African Arts, vol. 8, no. 1 (1974): 26-87. Snipe, Tracy. Art and Politics in Senegal: 1960-1996, Trenton, Asmara: Africa World Press, Inc., 1998.