biography / bibliography
Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and Diaspora, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Black Panther Rank and File, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
DAK’ART 2006, 7th edition of the Biennale of African Art, Senegal
EL ANATSUI
Born in 1944, Ghana
Lives and works in Nigeria
EDUCATION
1969
Postgraduate Diploma, Art Education, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi,
Ghana
1965–1969
BA (Art) College of Art, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012–2014
Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui, Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio, June 17–October 7, 2012. Traveling to: Brooklyn Museum, New York, February 8–August 4, 2013; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, October 24, 2013–February 9, 2014; Bass Museum of Art, Miami, Florida, April 11–August 10, 2014.
2012–2013
El Anatsui: Pot of Wisdom,Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, December 14, 2012–January 19, 2013.
Broken Bridge II, commissioned by High Line Art and presented by Friends of the High Line, on view on a wall next to the High Line, between West 21st and West 22nd Streets, November 21, 2012–Summer 2013.
2012
El Anatsui: Stitch in Time, Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp, May 11–June 30, 2012.
2010–2012
El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, October 2, 2010–February 28, 2011. Travelled to: Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, March 30–June 26, 2011; Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, September 25, 2011–January 22, 2012; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, March 18–July 29, 2012; Denver Art Museum, Colorado, September 9–December 30, 2012; University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, February 2–April 28, 2013; Museum for African Art, New York, June–November 2013. Curated by Lisa M. Binder. (Catalogue)
2011
El Anatsui, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, June 12–October 16, 2011. (Catalogue; text by Alisa LaGamma)
2010–2011
A Fateful Journey: Africa in the Works of El Anatsui, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, September 16–December 7, 2010. Traveled to: The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama, February 5–March 27, 2011; Tsuruoka Art Forum, April 23–May 22, 2011; The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, July 2–August 28, 2011. (Catalogue)
2010
El Anatsui: Gli, Rice University Art Gallery, Houston, Texas, January 28–March 14, 2010.
El Anatsui, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York, February 10–March 13, 2010. (Catalogue; text by Elizabeth Harney and Odili Donald Odita)
2009
El Anatsui, Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, Missouri, May 29–September 2, 2009.
El Anatsui: Process and Project (organized by the Museum of African Art, New York), Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, March 25–May 2, 2009.
2008
El Anatsui: Earth Growing Roots, San Diego State University Art Gallery, San Diego, April 7–May 7, 2008.
El Anatsui: Zebra Crossing, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York, January 4–February 2, 2008.
2003–2008
El Anatsui: Gawu, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, United Kingdom, November 22, 2003–January 7, 2004. Traveled to: Model Arts & Niland Gallery, Sligo, Republic of Ireland, August 13–September 19, 2004; Gallery Oldham, Oldham, England, United Kingdom, October 16–December 4, 2004; October Gallery, London, February 10–March 19, 2005; Djanogly Art Gallery, University of Nottingham, England, United Kingdom, April 16–June 7, 2005; Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida, August 16–October 16, 2005; Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 6–March 4, 2007; Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, April 22–August 26, 2007; University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, November 1, 2007–January 20, 2008; Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., May 16–September 2, 2008. (Catalogue; texts by Martin Barlow, Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, and Gerard Houghton.)
2006
El Anatsui: Asi, David Krut Projects, New York (in collaboration with October Gallery, London), November 1–December 22, 2006. (Catalogue; text by Chili Hawes)
El Anatsui: Nyekor, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan, Italy, February 16–March 4, 2006.
El Anatsui, Skoto Gallery, New York.
2005–2006
Danudo: Recent Sculptures of El Anatsui, Skoto Gallery in collaboration with Contemporary African Art Gallery, New York, October 27, 2005–January 21, 2006.
2002
El Anatsui: Recent Works, October Gallery, London, United Kingdom, October 9–November 9, 2002.
1998
El Anatsui: A Sculpted History of Africa, October Gallery, London, United Kingdom, May 13–June 20, 1998. (Catalogue; texts by John Picton with Gerard Houghton, Yukiya Kawaguchi, Elisabeth Lalouschek, Simon Njami, Elisabeth Péri-Willis)
1997
Hakpa, French Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria
1995
El Anatsui, October Gallery, London, September 14–October 21, 1995.
1993
So Far: Drawings, Paintings, Prints 1963–1993, Italian Cultural Institute, Lagos, May 8–22, 1993.
1991
Old and New: An Exhibition of Sculpture in Assorted Wood by El Anatsui, The National Museum, Lagos, Nigeria, March 23–April 6, 1991.
1987
Venovize: Ceramic Sculpture by El Anatsui, Faculty of Art and Design Gallery, Cornwall College of Further & Higher Education, Redruth, United Kingdom, February 6–27, 1987.
Pieces of Wood: An Exhibition of Mural Sculpture, The Franco-German Auditorium, Lagos, Nigeria, February 1987.
1982
Sculptures, Photographs, Drawings, Goethe Institute, Lagos, Nigeria, February 20–March 5, 1982.
1980
Wood Carvings, Cummington Community of Arts, Cummington, Massachusetts
1979
Broken Pots: Sculpture by El Anatsui, British Council, Enugu, Nigeria, November 5–10, 1979. Traveled to: Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, November 21–30, 1979.
1976
Wooden Wall Plaques, Asele Art Gallery, Nsukka, Nigeria, February 2–9, 1976.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., June 2013.
2012
1st Montevideo Biennial, Montevideo, Uruguay, opens November 22, 2012.
18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia, June 27–September 16, 2012.
Paris Triennial 2012, Palais de Tokyo, Spring 2012. Curated by Okwui Enwezor, Claire Staebler, Emilie Renard, Melanie Bouteloup and Abdellah Karroum.
African Cosmos: Stellar Art, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
2011–2012
Environment and Object in Recent African Art,Skidmore College Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, New York, February 6–July 31, 2011. Traveling to: Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, September 9–December 11, 2011; Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, January 27–April 22, 2012.
Architectural Environments for Tomorrow: New Spatial Practices in Architecture and Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan, October 29, 2010–January 15, 2012.
2011
The World Belongs to You, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy, June 2 – December 31, 2011. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois (Catalogue)
Hunters and Gatherers: The Art of Assemblage, S2 Ga;;eru. Sotheby’s, New York, November 17–December 16, 2011.
ARS 11, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland, April 15–November 27, 2011. (Catalogue)
2006–2011
The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, June–September 2006. Traveled to: Loyola University Museum of Art, Chicago, October 2006–January 2007; The School of Visual Arts, New York, July–August 2007; Rubin Museum of Art, New York, March–September 2007; Emory Visual Arts Gallery, Atlanta, September 29–October 27, 2007; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, December 1, 2007–March 16, 2008; Tomorrowland, Tokyo, Japan, October 17–November 9, 2008; Fundación Canal, Madrid, January 30–April 12, 2009; The Frost Museum, Florida International University, Miami, October 9, 2009–January 10, 2010; Brukenthal National Museum, Sibiu, Romania, May 18–July 18, 2010; Nobel Museum, Stockholm, October 9, 2010–January 2, 2011; The San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas, March 12–July 31, 2011. Curated by Randy Jayne Rosenberg.
2010
Who Knows Tomorrow, Nationalgalerie, Berlin
Human Rites, Bass Museum of Art, Miami Beach, Florida, June 25–October 3, 2010.
2009
Transvangarde, October Gallery, London
Moscow Biennale
Extreme Frontiers, Urban Frontiers, Institut Valencia D’Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
2008
The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles, Grey Art Gallery, New York
The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary, Museum for Arts and Design, New York
World Histories, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Angaza Afrika, October Gallery, London, United Kingdom
Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and Diaspora, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
2007
52nd Annual Venice Biennale in the Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Artempo – Where Art Becomes Time, Venice, Italy
Un/Fair Trade, Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria
Uncomfortable Truths, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (touring UK)
Altered, Stitched and Gathered, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York
2006
-poiesis, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, June 29–July 28, 2006.
Europe-Afrique: Regards Croisés, Ateliers des Tanneurs, Brussels
Black Panther Rank and File, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
DAK’ART 2006, 7th edition of the Biennale of African Art, Senegal
The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles
2005
In the Making: Materials and Process, Michael Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, August 18–September 17, 2005.
Out There, Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, Norwich, July 2–August 29, 2005.
AKA . . . of Age 2005, Maison de France, Lagos
De Young Museum, San Francisco
2004–2007
Afrika Remix, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany, July 24–November 7, 2004. Traveled to: Hayward Gallery, London, February 10–April 17, 2005; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, May 25–August 8, 2005; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, May 27–August 31, 2006; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, October 14, 2006–January 14, 2007.
2004–2005
Intelligence Now!, October Gallery, London, November 5, 2004–January 29, 2005.
2004
A Grain of Dust, A Drop of Water, 5th Gwangju Biennale, South Korea, September 10–November 13, 2004.
2003
Africa Informs, October Gallery, London, October 22–December 6, 2003.
Biennale of Ceramics in Contemporary Art, Villa Groppallo, Vado Ligure, Italy, September 27–November 9, 2003.
Transfers, Palais de Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium
Homage to Asele, National Museum Lagos, May 23–31, 2003.
Selected Works, Skoto Gallery, New York, March 1–April 5, 2003.
2002
One: The Independent, Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, Liverpool, UK
International 2002, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, September 14–November 24, 2002.
2001–2002
The Happy Face of Globalization, 1st Albissola Ceramics Biennale, Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea and Museo della Ceramica Manlio Trucco, Albissola, Italy, July 21–August 31, 2001. Traveled to: Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland, June 27–September 2, 2002.
2001
The Happy Face of Globalisation, The 1st Albissola Ceramics Biennale, MuseoCivico d’Arte Contemporanea and Museo della Ceramica Manlio Trucco, Albissola, Italy
El Tiempo de Africa, Centro Atlantico Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, December 12, 2000–February 4, 2001. Traveled to: Consejeria de Cultura de Comunidad, Madrid, Spain, April 19–May 31, 2001.
Elf Village, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, February 19–23, 2001.
Africas: The Artist and the City, Centro de Cultura Contemporania Barcelona, Spain, May 29–September 11, 2001.
News from the Front, October Gallery, London, January 25–February 24, 2001.
Jazz and Visual Improvisations, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, January 21–April 15, 2001. (Catalogue)
Ebony Soliloquy: A Five Year Retrospective (1996–2001), Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans
2000–2001
Encounters with the Contemporary, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2000–February 19, 2001.
Messagers de la Terre, Rur’Art– Espace d’Art Contemporain d’Lycée Agricole Xavier Bernard, Rouille, France, February 2000–February 2001.
2000
El Tiempo de Africa (Africa’s Time), Centro Atlántico Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
African Studies Gallery, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
Akron Art Museum, Akron, Ohio
Asele Institute, Nimo, Nigeria
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA
The British Museum, London, UK
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Clarks International Art Collection, Somerset, UK
Denver Art Museum, Colorado
de Young Museum, San Francisco
Diamond Bank of Nigeria, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Eden Project, Cornwall, UK
Fowler Museum, University of California, Los Angeles
French Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria
Ghanaian Embassy, Copenhagen, Denmark
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
The Hammermill Collection, Hellebaek, Helsingør, Denmark
Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
International Peoples’ College, Helsingør, Denmark
Iwalewa-Haus, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth, Germany
Jordan National Gallery of Arts, Amman, Jordan
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA
Missoni, Milan, Italy
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland
Museum of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
Museum kunst palast, Duesseldorf, Germany
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
The National Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lagos, Nigeria
The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC
The Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
The Newark Museum, NJ
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
UNAIDS, Geneva
Osaka Foundation of Culture, Osaka, Japan
Royal Ontario Museum, Canada
Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, Gainesville, Florida
Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
The World Bank Art Collection, Washington DC
AWARDS
2000
Founding Member and Fellow, Forum for African Arts
Member, International Selection Committee, Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
1999
The Public’s Prize, 7. Triennale der Kleinplastik, Stüttgart, Germany
1998
Bronze Prize, 9th Osaka Sculpture Triennale, Osaka, Japan
1995
Kansai Telecasting Corporation Prize, 3rd Osaka Sculpture Triennale, Osaka, Japan
1991
Fellow, Pan-African Circle of Artists (PACA)
1990
Honourable Mention (Joint), 44th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1969
Best Student of the Year, College of Art, University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
1968
Honourable Mention, First Ghana National Art Competition, Accra, Ghana