Movements and schools

13th century onwards, working today · NigeriaLiving tradition

Benin bronze casters (Igun Street)

Igun Street, Benin City, Edo State

The royal guild of bronze casters (Igun Eronmwon) of the Kingdom of Benin, still working by the lost-wax method in Igun Street.

early 1900s onwards · SenegalLiving tradition

Senegalese glass painting (sous-verre)

Dakar, Saint-Louis and Thiès

Painting on the back of glass, used in Senegal since the early 20th century for portraits, Muslim saints such as Amadou Bamba, scenes of daily life, folktales and humour.

Gora Mbengue, Mor Gueye, Anta Germaine Gaye

1940s–1970s · Nigeria

Lagos and the modern masters

Lagos, Ibadan and abroad

The first generation of modern Nigerian artists, trained in Nigeria and abroad, who set up the studios, schools and societies the later movements grew from.

Aina Onabolu, Ben Enwonwu, Akinola Lasekan, Felix Idubor

1940s–1970s · Mali

Bamako studio photography

Bamako

The portrait studios of Bamako around independence, where people dressed in their best for the camera.

Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, Abderramane Sakaly

1950s onwards · GhanaLiving tradition

Fantasy coffins of Teshie

Teshie and Nungua, Greater Accra

Ga workshops that carve figurative coffins (abebuu adekai) shaped as fish, cars, cocoa pods, aircraft or tools to speak of the life of the person buried in them.

Seth Kane Kwei, Paa Joe, Eric Adjetey Anang, Kudjoe Affutu

1952 onwards · Ghana

Kumasi College of Art (KNUST)

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi

The art school that moved from Achimota to Kumasi in 1952 and became the College of Art of KNUST, Ghana's main school of art.

Vincent Kofi, Kofi Antubam, Grace Salome Kwami, Ablade Glover

1950s onwards · Nigeria

Yaba School (Yaba College of Technology)

Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech), Lagos

The art department of Yaba College of Technology, one of the oldest art schools in Nigeria, has trained generations of Lagos painters and sculptors.

Yusuf Grillo, Kolade Oshinowo, Isiaka Osunde, Abiodun Olaku

1958–1961 and after · Nigeria

Zaria Art Society (Natural Synthesis)

Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria

Students at Zaria who, on the eve of independence, called for "natural synthesis": joining the best of indigenous traditions with what was useful from Western art…

Uche Okeke, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Demas Nwoko

1960s–1970s · Senegal

École de Dakar

Dakar

The modern art of Léopold Sédar Senghor's Senegal: artists trained at Dakar's school of arts, supported by the state, who painted a modern African art in the spirit of…

Papa Ibra Tall, Iba Ndiaye, Ibou Diouf, Mor Faye

1961 onwards · Nigeria

Mbari Club, Ibadan

Ibadan, Oyo State

A club for writers and artists founded in Ibadan in 1961 by Ulli Beier with Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, J.

Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Ibrahim El-Salahi

1960s onwards · Nigeria

Oshogbo School

Oshogbo (Osogbo), Osun State, Nigeria

Grew out of the Mbari Mbayo club and the workshops of Ulli and Georgina Beier, Susanne Wenger and Duro Ladipo in the early 1960s.

Twins Seven-Seven, Jimoh Buraimoh, Muraina Oyelami, Rufus Ogundele

1970s onwards · Nigeria

Nsukka School (Uli)

University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Artists teaching and studying at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who took the uli and nsibidi drawing and body-painting traditions of Igbo women into painting,…

Uche Okeke, Obiora Udechukwu, El Anatsui, Chike Aniakor

1970s onwards · Nigeria

Abayomi Barber School

Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Lagos

A circle of artists who gathered around the painter and sculptor Abayomi Barber at the University of Lagos, working outside the university art departments.

Abayomi Barber, Bunmi Babatunde

1970s–1980s · Côte d'Ivoire

Vohou-Vohou

École des Beaux-Arts, Abidjan

Students at the art school in Abidjan who rejected imported paints and academic rules and painted with bark cloth, sand, earth, raffia and other local materials.

Youssouf Bath, Kra N'Guessan, Théodore Koudougnon, Mathilde Moreau

1970s onwards · Nigeria

Auchi School (colourism)

Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State

The art school of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, known across Nigeria for "colourism": pictures built from bold, saturated colour rather than line.

Sam Ovraiti, Ben Osaghae

1974 onwards · Senegal

Laboratoire Agit'Art

Dakar

A collective of artists, writers and theatre and film people founded in Dakar in 1974 that turned against the official École de Dakar style for performance,…

Issa Samb, El Hadji Sy, Djibril Diop Mambéty

1978 onwards · Mali

Groupe Bogolan Kasobane

Bamako

Artists from the Institut National des Arts in Bamako who made bogolan, the mud-dyed cloth of Mali, a medium of modern painting and design.

Kandioura Coulibaly, Souleymane Goro, Klétigui Dembélé, Boubacar Doumbia

1985–2000, reunited 2024 · Nigeria

Aka Circle of Exhibiting Artists

Nsukka and Enugu, Eastern Nigeria

A circle of artists founded in 1985 by El Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu, who taught or studied at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the Institute of Management and…

El Anatsui, Obiora Udechukwu, Chike Aniakor, Tayo Adenaike

1989 onwards · Nigeria

Ona Movement

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

A group of artists at Ile-Ife who looked to Yoruba decorative design (ona) as the basis of a modern art, as the Nsukka artists did with uli.

Moyo Okediji, Kunle Filani, Tola Wewe, Bolaji Campbell

2000s onwards · NigeriaContemporary

Lagos contemporary

Lagos and the Nigerian diaspora

The galleries, fairs, festivals and art spaces of Lagos today, among them the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (2007), LagosPhoto (2010) and Art X Lagos (2016), and…

Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Peju Alatise, Victor Ehikhamenor, Nnenna Okore

2010s onwards · GhanaContemporary

Accra new figuration

Accra and abroad

Painters from Accra, many trained at Ghanatta College of Art and Design, whose portraits of Black sitters found a worldwide market from the late 2010s.

Amoako Boafo, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, Kwesi Botchway, Cornelius Annor

2015 onwards · GhanaContemporary

blaxTARLINES Kumasi

Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, Kumasi

A contemporary art collective grown from the painting and sculpture department at KNUST, led by the teacher and artist kąrî'kạchä seid'ou.

kąrî'kạchä seid'ou, Ibrahim Mahama, Bernard Akoi-Jackson

Nigeria

University of Port Harcourt - Department of Fine Art and Design

Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

1946–1954 · DR Congo

Le Hangar (Lubumbashi)

Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi)

A workshop founded by the painter Pierre Romain-Desfossés, where painters without academic training were encouraged to paint from their own imagination.

Pili Pili Mulongoy, Bela Sara, Mwenze Kibwanga

1951 onwards · Republic of the Congo

Poto-Poto School

Poto-Poto, Brazzaville

A painting school opened in the Poto-Poto district of Brazzaville by Pierre Lods.

Nicolas Ondongo, François Thango, Marcel Gotène

1970s onwards · DR Congo

Kinshasa popular painting

Kinshasa

Self-taught painters, many starting as sign painters, who painted the life, politics, scandal and humour of Kinshasa, often with written captions.

Chéri Samba, Chéri Chérin, Moke, Pierre Bodo

2000s onwards · DR CongoContemporary

Congo contemporary

Kinshasa and Lubumbashi

Contemporary artists of the two Congos working in sculpture, photography and performance, with the Lubumbashi Biennale (from 2008) and Kinshasa's art collectives.

Bodys Isek Kingelez, Sammy Baloji, Freddy Tsimba

1937 onwards · Uganda

Makerere School

Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts, Makerere University, Kampala

The art school started by Margaret Trowell at Makerere in 1937, the first in East Africa.

Sam Ntiro, Gregory Maloba, Elimo Njau, Francis Nnaggenda

1950s onwards · Tanzania and MozambiqueLiving tradition

Makonde sculpture

Dar es Salaam and the Makonde plateau

Modern carving in African blackwood (mpingo) by Makonde sculptors, from the shetani spirit figures to the ujamaa "tree of life" towers of many figures.

George Lilanga, John Fundi

1958 onwards · Ethiopia

Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts

Addis Ababa

The fine arts school founded by Ale Felege Selam, where Ethiopian modernists joined abstraction with the icons, scripts and magic scrolls of Ethiopian tradition.

Gebre Kristos Desta, Skunder Boghossian, Afewerk Tekle, Zerihun Yetmgeta

1960s onwards · Sudan

Khartoum School

College of Fine and Applied Art, Khartoum

Sudanese artists who joined Arabic calligraphy and Islamic design with African forms to make a modern art of Sudan's mixed heritage.

Ibrahim El-Salahi, Ahmed Shibrain, Osman Waqialla

1965 onwards · Kenya

Paa ya Paa (Nairobi)

Nairobi

An arts centre and gallery founded in Nairobi in 1965 by Elimo Njau with writers and artists, one of the first African-run art spaces in East Africa.

Elimo Njau, Jak Katarikawe, Ancent Soi

1968 onwards · Tanzania

Tingatinga

Dar es Salaam

The style started by Edward Saidi Tingatinga in Dar es Salaam, painted in bicycle enamel on board, and carried on by his followers and the Tingatinga Arts Cooperative.

Edward Saidi Tingatinga, January Linda, Simon George Mpata, Omari Amonde

1976 onwards · Sudan

The Crystalists

Khartoum

A group led by Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq whose 1976 manifesto set out an art of transparency, against the Khartoum School's focus on calligraphy and heritage.

Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq, Muhammad Hamid Shaddad, Naila El Tayib

1990s onwards · KenyaContemporary

Nairobi contemporary

Nairobi and abroad

Contemporary art of Nairobi, built around studios such as the Kuona Trust (1995) and the GoDown Arts Centre, and Kenyan artists working at home and abroad.

Wangechi Mutu, Michael Soi, Cyrus Kabiru, Peterson Kamwathi

1940s onwards · South AfricaLiving tradition

Ndebele painting

Mpumalanga and Gauteng

The geometric wall painting and beadwork of Ndebele women, taken by artists such as Esther Mahlangu onto canvas, cars and buildings around the world.

Esther Mahlangu, Francina Ndimande

1949–1960 · South Africa

Polly Street Art Centre

Johannesburg

A community art centre in Johannesburg, run from 1952 by Cecil Skotnes, where many of the first Black South African modernists trained.

Sydney Kumalo, Ezrom Legae, Durant Sihlali, Louis Maqhubela

1950s onwards · Mozambique

Maputo modernists

Lourenço Marques (now Maputo)

Mozambican modern painters and sculptors of the Núcleo de Arte and the circle of the architect Pancho Guedes, whose work spoke of colonial rule, war and freedom.

Malangatana Ngwenya, Bertina Lopes, Alberto Chissano, Roberto Chichorro

1957 onwards · Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe stone sculpture

National Gallery Workshop School, Harare, and Tengenenge

Stone carving that grew from Frank McEwen's workshop at the National Gallery in Harare and Tom Blomefield's Tengenenge community (1966), often called Shona sculpture.

Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Henry Munyaradzi, Joseph Ndandarika, Sylvester Mubayi

1962–1982 · South Africa

Rorke's Drift Art and Craft Centre

ELC Art and Craft Centre, Rorke's Drift, KwaZulu-Natal

An art and craft centre of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the only place in apartheid South Africa where Black artists could study fine art.

Azaria Mbatha, John Muafangejo, Dan Rakgoathe, Vuminkosi Zulu

1976–1994 · South Africa

South African resistance art

Johannesburg, Cape Town and in exile

Art against apartheid from the Soweto uprising to the 1994 election: posters, prints, drawing and assemblage, including the Medu Art Ensemble in Gaborone and the…

Dumile Feni, Thami Mnyele, David Koloane, Willie Bester

1994 onwards · South AfricaContemporary

South African contemporary

Johannesburg and Cape Town

Art after apartheid: the Johannesburg Biennales (1995, 1997), the Market Photo Workshop, and Zeitz MOCAA (2017) in Cape Town, with artists shown worldwide.

William Kentridge, Zanele Muholi, Mary Sibande, Nicholas Hlobo

1908 onwards · Egypt

Egyptian pioneers

School of Fine Arts, Cairo

The first generation of modern Egyptian artists, from the School of Fine Arts opened in Cairo in 1908, who joined Pharaonic forms and Egyptian life with European…

Mahmoud Mokhtar, Mahmoud Said, Ragheb Ayad, Mohamed Naghi

1938–1948 · Egypt

Art and Liberty Group (Egyptian surrealists)

Cairo

Cairo artists and writers whose 1938 manifesto, "Long live degenerate art", stood against fascism and for freedom in art.

Ramses Younan, Georges Henein, Fouad Kamel, Kamel el-Telmissany

1946 onwards · Egypt

Contemporary Art Group (Cairo)

Cairo

A group formed by the teacher Hussein Youssef Amin whose members painted the popular culture, folk belief and poor quarters of Cairo.

Abdel Hadi el-Gazzar, Hamed Nada, Samir Rafi

1949 onwards · Tunisia

École de Tunis

Tunis

Tunisian and resident painters who made the life of the medina, its markets, cafés and crafts the subject of a Tunisian modern art.

Yahia Turki, Ammar Farhat, Zoubeir Turki, Jellal Ben Abdallah

1960s–1970s · Morocco

Casablanca School

École des Beaux-Arts, Casablanca

Teachers at the Casablanca art school, led by Farid Belkahia, who brought Amazigh signs, crafts and popular arts into modern abstraction and took art into the street,…

Farid Belkahia, Mohamed Melehi, Mohamed Chabâa

1967 onwards · Algeria

Aouchem

Algiers

Algerian artists whose 1967 manifesto called for an art rooted in the signs of the land after independence.

Denis Martinez, Choukri Mesli

1990s onwardsContemporary

Contemporary African art

Africa and the diaspora

African art made now, across painting, photography, sculpture, installation, film and new media, at home and in the diaspora.

El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu

1990s onwardsContemporary

Contemporary African photography

Across Africa and the diaspora

African photographers working since the first Rencontres de Bamako (1994): staged self-portraits, documentary, archives and fashion.

Samuel Fosso, J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, Zanele Muholi, Aïda Muluneh

1990s onwardsContemporary

Found and recycled materials

Across Africa

Artists across the continent who turn what is thrown away, bottle tops, jerrycans, jute sacks, decommissioned weapons, into sculpture and installation about trade,…

El Anatsui, Romuald Hazoumè, Ibrahim Mahama, Gonçalo Mabunda