Negus African Arts

Negus African Arts was a periodical devoted to African visual culture, performance, and cultural criticism that operated during the postcolonial decades. It published scholarly essays, artist profiles, exhibition reviews, and reproductions that connected practitioners in Accra and Kumasi to collectors, curators, and academics in London, Paris, and New York City. Editorial aims linked artists from across West Africa, East Africa, and the Caribbean with institutions such as the British Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian Institution.

History

The magazine emerged amid decolonization-era cultural movements associated with figures in Ghana like leaders of the Convention People's Party and the intellectual networks around Kwame Nkrumah, artists trained at the Kumasi College of Art and graduates of Achimota School. Influences included pan-African conferences in Accra Conference (1958) and the cultural debates at University of Ghana and Makerere University. Editors engaged with transnational currents shaped by postwar migratory circuits between Liverpool, Birmingham, Brussels, and Lagos, and dialogues with curators at the Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Political ruptures such as coups in Ghana and shifting funding from foundations like the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation affected the publication’s circulation and production, while collaborations with galleries in Dakar during the era of the Dakar Biennale and exchanges with cultural policymakers from Nigeria and Sierra Leone expanded its remit.

Publications and Editorial Content

The magazine blended peer commentary, formatted catalogues, and photo essays. Articles referenced exhibitions at the National Museum of Ghana, retrospectives at the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board, and international surveys mounted by the Louvre and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Contributors debated repatriation issues alongside practitioners connected to the Royal Anthropological Institute and critics writing for publications like African Arts (journal) and Transition (magazine). The editorial line published interviews featuring directors of institutions such as the Akan Collections curators, essays by scholars affiliated with SOAS, University of London and Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, and illustrated spreads referencing collections in Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Rome.

Contributors and Associated Artists

Writers and artists linked to the journal included staff and contributors who worked with studios and workshops such as the Ghana National Museum Workshops, alumni of KNUST and artists involved with collectives in Lagos State and Freetown. Profiles featured artists whose careers intersected with institutions like the Hayward Gallery, the Centre Pompidou, and the National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom). The pages showcased the work of sculptors, textile designers, and painters connected to schools associated with figures from Joseph Ephraim Casely-Hayford-era cultural circles, poets and dramatists active in Rising Africa, and photographers who later exhibited at the Getty Museum and the International Center of Photography.

Exhibitions and Events

The periodical publicized and documented exhibitions and events staged at venues including the National Theatre (Ghana), private galleries in Accra Mall precincts, and pop-up shows organized during the Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC 77) circuit. It served as a catalogue partner for touring exhibitions that traveled to the Royal Academy of Arts, the African and African American Museum, and university galleries at Indiana University and University of California, Los Angeles. The magazine also reported on symposia with speakers from institutions such as UNESCO, panels convened by the International Council of Museums, and workshops supported by the British Council and municipal cultural programs in Manchester and Glasgow.

Impact and Legacy

Over time the publication influenced curatorial practice at museums like the Brooklyn Museum and academic programs at departments including African Studies Center, Boston University and Department of Art History, SOAS. Its archival issues have been cited in exhibition catalogues for shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and research in journals such as Journal of African History and Art Journal. The magazine’s networks contributed to the careers of curators who later worked at the National Museum of African Art and the Stedelijk Museum, and to scholarship that informed calls for provenance research led by teams at the British Library and the Getty Research Institute.

Category:African art magazines Category:Publications established in the 1960s