African Modernism in America

On view at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum until Aug. 6, African Modernism in America is the first major traveling exhibition to examine the complex connection between modern African artists and U.S. patrons, artists and cultural organizations amid the interlocking histories of civil rights, decolonialization and the Cold War.

Organized by the American Federation of Arts and Fisk University Galleries, the exhibition features more than 70 artworks by 50 artists.

Works by many of the most important African artists of the mid-20th century, including Skunder Boghossian (Ethiopia), Ibrahim El-Salahi (Sudan), Ben Enwonwu (Nigeria) and Gerard Sekoto (South Africa), exemplify the relationships between art that emerged in Africa during the 1950s and 1960s and the art and cultural politics of the U.S.