The product of more than 30 years of research, this astounding and authoritative volume reveals the political metaphors underpinning El Anatsui’s magnificent abstract sculpture
Authored by two acclaimed scholars, Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, this is the most comprehensive and authoritative account yet on the work of El Anatsui, the world-renowned Ghanaian-born sculptor. The product of more than three decades of research and close collaboration with the artist, it shows how his early wood reliefs and terracottas, and the later monumental metal sculptures, express a search for alternative models of art-making. The authors argue that the pervasiveness of fragmentation as a compositional device in Anatsui’s oeuvre evokes the impact of colonization and postcolonial forces on African cultures. At the same time, the invocation of resilience and fragility invests his shape-shifting sculptures with iconic power. The authors also show how, in his critically acclaimed metal works, the manual labor of flattening, cutting, twisting and crushing bottle caps and using copper wires to suture and stitch the elements into one dazzling, reconfigurable epic piece serves as a powerful metaphor for human life. This book presents Anatsui as a visionary of incomparable imagination, also situating his work within a broader historical context—specifically, the postcolonial modernism of midcentury African artists and writers, the cultural ferment of post-independence Ghana and the intellectual environment of the 1970s Nsukka School. By recovering these histories, the authors show how and why Anatsui became one of the most formidable sculptors of our time. Born in Anyako, Ghana, in 1944, El Anatsui is widely regarded as the greatest living African artist. He has received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale (2015), the Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture (2017) and the Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern; and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, among others.
Featured image is reproduced from 'El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture'.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Colossal
Kate Mothes
The product of more than three decades of research and collaboration with the artist by scholars Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, who place Anatsui’s work in the historical context of post-independence Ghana and mid-20th century African modernism in art and writing. Hundreds of color images examine the sculptures in detail, giving the reader an in-depth insight into the artist’s process, how transformation is central to his pieces, and how his approach evolved over time.
Artblog
Andrea Kirsh
This book is extremely sensitively conceived, designed and produced.
in stock $70.00
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Saturday, October 22 at 1 PM, the de Young Museum and Damiani Books present the west coast launch of El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture by Chika Okeke-Agulu and Okwui Enwezor. Join Okeke-Agulu and Natasha Becker, curator of African art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, in a discussion of key arguments in the book, what led to its making, and its relationship with the eponymous exhibition at Haus der Kunst in Munich in 2019. To be followed by a Q&A with the audience. For those who can't join in person, please use this link for the livestream. continue to blog
Thursday, September 22 at 6:30 PM, the New Museum and Damiani Books present the launch of El Anatsui: The Reinvention of Sculpture by Chika Okeke-Agulu and Okwui Enwezor. Join Massimiliano Gioni, Edlis Neeson Artistic Director, for a panel discussion featuring Okeke-Agulu, Jason Farago of The New York Times and Julian Lucas of The New Yorker, who will discuss the artistic practice and life of world-renowned, Ghanaian-born sculptor El Anatsui. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9.75 x 11.75 in. / 360 pgs / 320 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $70.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $95 ISBN: 9788862087636 PUBLISHER: Damiani AVAILABLE: 6/14/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Damiani. By Okwui Enwezor & Chika Okeke-Agulu.
The product of more than 30 years of research, this astounding and authoritative volume reveals the political metaphors underpinning El Anatsui’s magnificent abstract sculpture
Authored by two acclaimed scholars, Okwui Enwezor and Chika Okeke-Agulu, this is the most comprehensive and authoritative account yet on the work of El Anatsui, the world-renowned Ghanaian-born sculptor. The product of more than three decades of research and close collaboration with the artist, it shows how his early wood reliefs and terracottas, and the later monumental metal sculptures, express a search for alternative models of art-making.
The authors argue that the pervasiveness of fragmentation as a compositional device in Anatsui’s oeuvre evokes the impact of colonization and postcolonial forces on African cultures. At the same time, the invocation of resilience and fragility invests his shape-shifting sculptures with iconic power. The authors also show how, in his critically acclaimed metal works, the manual labor of flattening, cutting, twisting and crushing bottle caps and using copper wires to suture and stitch the elements into one dazzling, reconfigurable epic piece serves as a powerful metaphor for human life.
This book presents Anatsui as a visionary of incomparable imagination, also situating his work within a broader historical context—specifically, the postcolonial modernism of midcentury African artists and writers, the cultural ferment of post-independence Ghana and the intellectual environment of the 1970s Nsukka School. By recovering these histories, the authors show how and why Anatsui became one of the most formidable sculptors of our time.
Born in Anyako, Ghana, in 1944, El Anatsui is widely regarded as the greatest living African artist. He has received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale (2015), the Praemium Imperiale Award for Sculpture (2017) and the Lorenzo il Magnifico Lifetime Achievement Award (2017). His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Modern; and the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, among others.
