Modern Congo (1930-1960)

Nearly ten years after the Beauté Congo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, which covered almost a century of creation, the Modern Congo exhibition at Galerie MAGNIN-A curated by André Magnin, focuses exclusively on works produced between 1930 and 1960, some of the most exceptional and rare recorded to date.  It brings together a selection of around fifty works, some of which have never been shown to the public, from two distinct periods: the modern artists (1927-1932) and the so-called “Hangar artists” (1946-1954), the precursors of contemporary painting in Central Africa.

Freely written, this story was the fruit of chance and necessity. The chance of contacts between men, Congolese and Europeans, separated by their roots and culture, and the need to follow the thread to present what the artists had produced: a sum of masterful works testifying to the artistic ardor of the Congo.

Artists: Bela, Sylvestre Keballa, Mwenze Kibwanga, Masalay, Pilipili Mulongoy, Tshyela Ntendu (Djilatendo), N’Kulu, Albert Lubaki, Antoinette Lubaki, Kayembe, Mukasa P, J. Kabongo, Norbert Ilunga,