The Art of Decolonisation - (Rethinking Art's Histories) by Maureen Murphy (Hardcover)

About the Book

A transnational and transhistorical history of the artistic, political, and diplomatic relations between France and Senegal from the 1950s to the 1970s. This book examines the strategies of decolonisation from a globalised perspective and decentres perspectives about modernism and the global turn in contemporary art.

Book Synopsis

The art of decolonisation examines how artists challenged colonial legacies and reconfigured power through transnational networks of art and diplomacy. Adopting a global and transhistorical perspective, it explores artistic, political, and institutional relations between France and Senegal during decolonisation and the Cold War. From the emergence of a national modern art in Senegal to contested cultural policies and high-profile exhibitions--such as those featuring Picasso and Soulages in Dakar, or contemporary Senegalese art in Paris--this book traces the circulation of artworks, ideas, and influence across borders. It reveals how visual artists and filmmakers shaped a new artistic geopolitics between 1950 and 1970.
Reconsidering the accepted chronology of the 'global turn', The art of decolonisation shows that the roots of global art discourse run deeper than the 1990s, and were already forming during the era of independence struggles.

From the Back Cover

What role did art play in the process of decolonisation, and what strategies were developed by artists to reconfigure power relations and artistic practices? How can modernism be decentered and the 1950s to 1970s rethought from a global and interconnected perspective?
The art of decolonisation adopts a transnational and transhistorical lens to examine the artistic, political, and diplomatic relations between a former colonial power and an emancipated colony at the time of decolonisation and the Cold War. Focusing on France and Senegal, it explores how the circulation of objects, artists, and ideas reveals the power struggles that shaped the art scene between 1950 and 1970. From the development of a national modern art in Senegal to challenges to the cooperation policies between the two countries, and from the 'Picasso' and 'Soulages' exhibitions held in Dakar in the 1970s to the 1974 exhibition of contemporary Senegalese art in Paris, a new artistic geopolitics was taking shape--one in which visual artists and filmmakers played an active role.
This book also invites a rethinking of the commonly accepted historiography of the 'global turn', demonstrating that its origins lie well before the 1990s.

About the Author

Maureen Murphy is Professor of Art history at University Paris-Nanterre