Today, Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Hornhues, President of the German Africa Foundation, wrote a letter to Prof. Dr. Horst Koehler in which he expresses the foundation's concernation and regret about the surprising demission of the Federal President.
In his letter, Prof. Dr. Hornhues appreciates Horst Koehler's profound and honest engagement for a partnership with Africa.: "Africa loses a good and outstanding friend in the office of the Federal Presiddent. But we are sure that Your engagement for Africa will be a susatainable one even as your term as Federal President has come to an end."
Press: Basler Zeitung - Art, Sport, Afrika - Die Kunst im globalen Spielfeld.
SWR 2 - Cultur Broadcast
Wedneday, 9.06.2010 | 5.05 pm | Streamdownload Post-Kolonialwaren –
Welches Afrikabild vermittelt Kunst aus Afrika?
Discussion: Dr. Clementine Deliss, Direktorin Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt am Main Dr. Stefan Eisenhofer, Ethnologe und Historiker, Leiter der Afrika-Abteilung im Völkerkundemuseum München Peter Herrmann, Galerist für Kunst aus Afrika, Berlin
Moderation: Dietrich Brants
"Von einem Afrikaner erwartet man, dass er Masken macht. Ich liefere Masken". Erklärt der Documenta-Teilnehmer Romuald Hazoumé aus der Republik Benin – und produziert bewusst Recycling-Kunst: "Die Europäer schicken uns ihren Müll. Ich verwandle Müll in Kunst und schicke ihn zurück". Ist das die Quersumme aller Afrika-Klischees: Masken aus Müll bzw. aus alten Benzin-Kanistern? Welche Themen bearbeiten Künstler afrikanischer Herkunft – Skandalthemen wie Kinder-Soldaten, Bürgerkriegs-Barbarei, Frauen-Beschneidung, Aids, Korruption? Und wenn sie nicht in der europäischen Diaspora leben und nicht für den internationalen Kunstmarkt arbeiten? Soll Kunst aus Afrika vor allem ursprünglich und authentisch sein, irgendwie traditionell und möglichst von Autodidakten hergestellt? Wie werden die Klischees des Kolonialismus reproduziert? Wie arbeiten Künstler dagegen an? Und wo soll man ihre Werke zeigen – im Völkerkundemuseum?
Zur Programmseite des SWR 2 | Download (german) - Our Site avec le discussion
News
The Tribal Eye - The Kingdom Of Bronze - Benin at Docuwat
We are glad to announce 28 Bronzeobjects from Paul GarnCollection, Dresden. All sculptures are from Nigeria and Mali and has been bought from the collector in the 1920's in France.
Contemporary Art from Africa in Germany with an Artikel by Peter Herrmann a book review by Dorina Hecht about Global Icons by Lydia Haustein.
More articels by Christian Hanussek about Cameroon, Verena Rodatus about Dakar, Yvette Mutumba about Germany, Dorina Hecht und Sophi Eliot made an Interview with Manuela Sambo, Wolfgang Bender desrcibes Chéri Samba and Peter Herrmann explaines the market in Germany. Pictures by Ransome Stanley, Daniel Kojo Schrade, Achillekà Komguem, Joseph Sumegne and many more. (Texts) - Focus contemporary art from Africa till page 29 as pdf. 3,3 MB
Kunstmagazin with Photos by Ransome Stanley and George Osodi
Art from Africa in Germany
Text: Peter Herrmann / Translation: translated by: Brian Poole
In the 90s of the last century the magazine “Capital” published a comprehensive study of the international art market, dividing the market up into segments. How astonishing that, over the last one hundred years, the complicated market of old art from Africa has had the most stable price structure....
Auctions
Sale of contemporary art by african Artists
Gaia, Paris - 31.5.2010
Upon many others: Ransome Stanley and Chéri Samba
Phillips de Pury - New York - 15.5.2010
All results. Chéri Samba oil painting USD 98.500.- and Georges Osodi's photography for USD 7.500.-
We have been whiping our book pages >> into shape. Recently we readjusted the pages, gave it a new structure and added some new books. We are still completing, but already now it's worth a visit.
New in our line of books: Joburg Art Fair Catalogue, Global Icons by Lydia Haustein, HQ - High Qualitity with an article about Chéri Samba. A brilliant catalogue of Ransome Stanley called Abb. 2002-2007. >>>>
Ancient and contemporary art from Africa
Authors:
Frau Dr. Uschi Eid, MP
Dorina Hecht M.A. (Afrika Post, Portal Kunstgeschichte)
Camilla Péus (Art, Die Welt, Kunstzeitung)
Christian Hanussek (African Art, Springerin, Africultures, etc.)
Marc Peschke (Afrika-Post, Afrika-Wirtschaft, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Zeit Online, etc.)
Gunther Péus, (1969 first Afrikacorrespondent for ZDF, Journalist)
Peter Herrmann (Gallery Director, curator, author)
Franz-Xaver Schlegel (Journalist, Author)
Over the course of our 18 years of gallery work, it has been very difficult to present African art in a satisfactory manner in Germany. Time and time again, in both reviews and the public esteem, we have been pushed into to an ethnographic corner where African art exists only as exotic artefact. In the past years, Peter Herrmann has begun more and more vehemently to express that art from Africa, whether old or new, must be removed from the realm of Ethnology and anchored instead in the realm of Art History. A parliamentary expert discussion on the topic was held in October of last year, the result being that this notion is now a leitmotif of both the art market and national cultural and educational policy. Working with representatives from the Office of the Federal President, Horst Köhler - who see cultural work with Africa as an important pillar of their politics - Peter Hermann has already been able to lead several discussions concerning this matter. In addition, a series of articles on the topic appeared at the end of 2007 in the Afrikapost, the magazine of the Africa Foundation. (German.)
In it, Mr. Christian Hanussek writes from the perspective of art theorists and artists, Ms. Dorina Hecht discusses the relationship between African art and Art History from the perspective of an art historian, Mr. Klaus Paysan speaks for the collectors, Mr. Stefan Eisenhofer writes from the view of ethnologists, and Peter Hermann writes as a curator and gallerist about the gateway to business . Three articles appeared in the September 2007 issue of Afrikapost and two further articles from Eisenhofer and Hermann in the December issue. To the foreword by Mr. Hess and a presentation of the authors.
The subject matter is exciting. The articles illuminate the most diverse aspects of the discourse on and realities of African art and provide specific references that could strongly influence cultural and educational policy over the next years. The first visible result of the increasingly dynamic discourse is the creation of two new positions at the Free University of Berlin: Professor and Assistant Professor for African Art History. The positions have already been announced together with two additional associate lecturer positions.
Participants in a panel of experts held on 24 September 2007 at the Paul Löbe House of the German Bundestag spoke about the ongoing tension between Art History and Ethnology:
- organized by Peter Herrmann and in collaboration with Dr. Uschi Eid (Member of German Parliament, Afrika Stiftung, IFA, etc).
Speakers in the Paul-Löbe-Haus des Deutschen Bundestags, September 24, 2007 (german):
Alex Moussa Sawadogo (Art historian, Burkina Faso/Berlin)
Felix Kama (Performance artist and writer, Kamerun/Stuttgart)
Manuela Sambo (Artist, Angola/Berlin)
Christian Hanussek (Artist und Projectmanager, Berlin)
Dr. Peter Junge (Museum of Mankind Berlin-Dahlem, Bereich Afrika)
Dr. Stefan Eisenhofer (Staatliches Museum of Mankind Munich, Africa)
Dorina Hecht (Art historian, Berlin)
Dr. Britta Schmitz (Curator of the Nationalgalerie at Hamburger Bahnhof)
Prof. Lydia Haustein (Art historian, Berlin)
Peter Herrmann (Gallery Director and Curator, Berlin)
Dr. Uschi Eid, MP (German Parliament, Institute for Foreign Affairs, Afrika-Stiftung, etc.)
Britta Müller (Scientific Assistant to Dr. Uschi Eid)
Perspectives of contemporary art from Africa in Berlin
June 15, 2009 at German Parliament, Reichstag.
4. expert talk. Invitation by Dr. Uschi Eid, member of parliament
Foto: Maria Kind
Dr Barbara Barsch. Director of Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations.
Peter Herrmann. Galerie Peter Herrmann.
Prof. Dr. Dietrich Wildung. Director of Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection.
Dr. Uschi Eid. Speaker of parliament for foreign cultural affairs.
Koffi Kan Ignace Kra. Toucouleur e.V./Africamera.
David Shanko, Listros e.V.
Ursula Trüper. Magazine "Afrikanisches Viertel".
Barbara Schirpke. Afroport
>> Spötter, Streber und Gelehrte Article written by Peter Herrmann as a resumée and a critic about cultural functionaries in Berlin
Mixed
all Informations about the three years procect - p.art.ners
January 2009. Peter Herrmann
Age classificationThe latest stand in the analysis of West African bronzes from the point of view of free art brokers and the upmarket art trade.
In various articles published in the last two years, Dorina Hecht and Peter Herrmann promulgated aspects of a new interpretation of West African bronzes with a focus on Nigeria...
...Another theory, similar to the aforementioned radiation theory, is based on the high-pressure attachment of pulverised core fragments to castings without the use of a bonding agent. How this is supposed to be accomplished eludes us...
...As described in several previous articles, the resistance of these analysis laboratories furthermore reveals a clear discrimination against the craftsmen, artists and art historians of the objects’ countries of origin and thereby extends to the political and diplomatic sectors... >> more
Artists with whom we did work and artists cooperating with us currently in the ranking of artfacts.net. The smaller the number, the more well-know the artist. Most of them are positioned through the gallery work. Minus (-)stands for a sinking trend and plus (+) for an upwards trend.
External Exhibition - to April 10, 2010
Kassel - Die Neue Galerie – Auftritt im Schloss!
Paul Baum / Joseph Beuys / Alighiero Boetti / Antonio Calderara / Lovis Corinth / Gustave Courbet / Danica Dakic / Piero Dorazio / Max Ernst / Conrad Felixmüller / Otto Freundlich / Andrea Geyer / Raimund Girke / Alan Green / Otto Greis / Richard Hamilton / Curt Herrmann / Hannah Höch / K. H. Hödicke / Carl Hofer / Alexej von Jawlensky / Alexander Kanoldt / Ernst Ludwig Kirchner / Nina Kluth / Louis Kolitz / Alfons Lachauer / Berto Lardera / Henri Laurens / Max Liebermann / Hans Makart / Marcellvus L. / Georg Muche / Ernst Wilhelm Nay / Claes Oldenburg / George Osodi / Sigmar Polke / Arnulf Rainer / Gerhard Richter / Auguste Rodin / Diet Sayler / Jan J. Schoonhoven / Emil Schumacher / Max Slevogt / Hito Steyerl / Johann H. Tischbein d. Ä. / Frederic M. Thursz / Wolf Vostell / Ai Weiwei / Jerry Zeniuk
Political and Cultural Relations between South Africa and Germany. Speach by Peter Herrmann at the Johannesburg Art Fair. March 28, 2010
art Karlsruhe
March 4.-7, 2010
Exhibitors Stand H4-M08 plus
Collectors exhibition: South Africa. Curated by Monna Mokoena (Gallery MoMo) and Peter Herrmann
Dr. Sello Rathete Collection and Daimler Art Collection
Jane Alexander, David Goldblatt, Kay Hassan, William Kentridge, Kagiso Pa- trick Mautloa, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Andrew Nhlangwini, Johannes Phokela, Jürgen Schadeberg, Guy Tillim, Andrew Tshabangu
Opening: Thursday, November 26, 2009 at 8 pm with performance
Exhibition: 27.11.2009 - 9.1.2010
3D presentation
african / not african
For several years now, I have been working on integrating conceptually based text and word fragments into my painting on canvas and paper. In 1999, I began to include fragments of texts, words, and letters into abstract, non-representational configurations. This now has become a very prominent feature in my work, and I continue to use that (working) process. In 2003, I started to add figurative personages into my paintings, often as elements that occupy the liminal spaces between fore-and background.
The motifs I focus on appear in repetitions and are worked out in varied forms in series. They originate from various cultural contexts, and through their integration into my artwork they become a kind of very personal cultural archive. Among such repeated motifs are the Afronaut figure and the textual elements in the cycle entitled, Brother Beethoven.
Brother Beethoven
Afronauts are dis-located characters who create and control their own image spaces, where they claim the power to define themselves and to re-negotiate identity ascriptions. They appear, drawn or painted, in a kind of space suit and various head coverings (helmets, hats, caps, etc.), based loosely on Lee Scratch Perry, a Jamaican record producer and musician who used to perform in a similar outfit. Their figurative presence generates disturbances in what is primarily a homogeneous way of painting and it transforms my work into what has been called, painting from the spaces in between (Jochen Meister, Afronauts, 2007, p.14). I place such figures in the tradition of the Ghanaian trickster Anansi the Spider and his modern equivalents Felix the Cat,El Ahrairah and Wile E. Coyote.
I began the Brother Beethoven series of paintings on canvas and paper in 1999 as an effort to lay claim to an icon of Western high culture: in addressing Beethoven as brother, the famed composer - whom we now know to have descended from a grandmother from the former Dutch colonies - is dis-placed into the context of the Black diaspora, highlightning the hybridity inherent in what traditionally used to be defined as White culture. I recently started to work on the African/Not African series.
Opening: 15.10.2009 at 8 pm
Exhibition: 16.10. - 21.11.2009
Amouzou Glikpa was born in 1960 in Sokode, Togo and began his professional career in Lomé, where he studied German Language and Literature. In 1983, he moved to China, where he spent a decade – with a few intermittent breaks – studying at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts as Professor Sheng Yang’s master pupil. He has been living in Germany for the past 14 years, eight of them as assistant to Professor Tony Cragg, under whom he studied in Dusseldorf from 1992 to 1995.
Le Fa. Kauris aus Eisen auf einem Holzwagen
Wir zeigen Skulpturen, Zeichnungen und Malerei aus den Jahren 2008 und 2009, die der Künstler für unserer Ausstellung vorbereitete. Seine oft publizierte Arbeit Le Fa, ein Wagen mit überdimensionierten Kauri-Schnecken, ist eine Reminiszenz an seine frühen Jahre.
We are currently exhibiting a collection of sculptures, drawings, and paintings from 2008 and 2009 that the artist prepared for our gallery. Amongst them is the well-known work Le Fa, a wagon with oversized cowries through which Glikpa reminiscences about his early years.
Glikpa has been heavily influenced by both the religion and the traditional art of Togo; its myths and legends often serve as themes in the artist’s works, expressed through the lens of a fascination with Chinese and European history. Thus oversized shoes with built-in speakers recount West African proverbs, large images refer to traditional voodoo symbolism, and drawings are a study in rhythms.
Particularly impressive is an installation of 16 ram heads arranged in a spiral and accompanied by numerous individually-hanging heads; the ram, in many religions, serves as mythological animal of sacrifice and battle. Two sculptures of clay, Styrofoam, and metal complete the exhibition.
Opening: 8 September 2009 | 20:00.
Exhibition: 9 September – 10 October 2009
Born 1962 in Algeria, Nicole Guiraud immigrated to France following the Algerian independence and has been shuttling between France and Germany for many years.
One part of her artistic oeuvre consists of building temporary homes whose objects, collages, and drawings refer mostly to Algeria. Guiraud’s central themes include homelessness , identity abroad, and the fugacity of time.
Developed over decades, the works are the artistic constructions of a very personal memory space. With their manifold layers of meaning and their idiosyncratic combinations of writing, images, and metaphors, these collages, drawings, and objects open a consolidated perspective on the world and represent an ever expanding plastic diary displayed either on transparent material behind glass or in show cabinets.
In trying to decipher the embedded messages through the partly transparent material, the observer continually reaches new conclusions. Guiraud’s artistic productions are filled with a longing for a lost African “paradise” and a hope of overcoming the experienced traumas of war and exile. The same hope also shapes her political work: the artist has been involved in the Mouvement d’Algérie-Djazair for years, working together with Algerians and French Algerians to explore the cultural richness of the country by coming to terms with the its dramatic, multifaceted, and often disputed history, the ultimate goal being to reconcile the country’s various groups.
The Peter Herrmann Gallery for a second time in Johannesburg
Louzla Darabi - Bill Kouélany - Malam - Ayana V. Jackson - Ransome Stanley
Daily Artheat - Artfairs Top 5 most eligible bachelors
700 Years of Africa - Benin to Contemporary
January 31 through March 12, 2009
Miami: Wolfgang Roth & Partners, Fine Art (in cooperation with Peter Herrmann)
201 NE 39th Street | 2nd Floor | Miami Design District | Florida 33137 | USA | +1 305 576 6961 www.wrpfineart.com
Collection Taschen, Köln >>
Jack Shainman Gallery, New York >>
Galerie Peter Herrmann, Berlin >>
Lowe Art Museum, Miami >>
Laboratory Ralf Kotalla for genuine Analyses, Haigerloch >>
Press: Kunst und Auktionen. 23.1.2009 Preview of the Art Karlsruhe with a painting from Ransome Stanley
Black History Month Celebration - Sadiq Bey pays Tribute to Wifredo Lam
Performance: February 27, 2009 at 8 pm in the Gallery.
Sadiq Bey will offer excerpts from his text The Diaries of Wifredo Lam, a historical fiction account of what went on when Lam, along with Andre Breton, Claude Levi-Strauss and 300 other artists and intellectuals, crossed the Atlantic (24 March, 1940) in the midst of WW II, to escape the persecution of the Vichy regime and the lengthy reach of Adolf Ziegler’s campaign against "degenerate art".
Wifredo Lam, Cuban born painter and ceramicist (1902-1982), was a seminal figure in 20th century visual expression. Often portrayed as a Surrealist due to his
long association with Pablo Picasso, Andre Breton and poet Pierre Mabille, Lam located the synergy of European technique and Afro-Caribbean cultural mythos and created sensation and controversy with an articulation of content that stunned the western art world and influenced scores of young American (north and south) artists.
Originally from Detroit, Sadiq Bey is a performance poet, percussionist, essayist and recording artist living and working in New York and Berlin... more >>
Mansour Ciss - Afro made in China
Exhibition: January 21 - February 28, 2009
Presentation: February 13, 8pm
With this exhibition we refer to a local art scene and present one of the few artists from Africa living in Berlin.
On the basis of the Euro Mansour Ciss created the idea of an African collective currency already at the end of the 90s. With this Projekt demonstrated his political-utopian demands and communicated his vision of a peaceful and united Africa. Beside referring to the AFRO the Gallery shows an installation and two videos.
Beside referring to the AFRO the Gallery shows an installation and two videos. "Don't tell me you don't know anything" says the double silhouette in the video Les 100 papiers. The man tells a story about his West African origins, European cities, travel documents and expired stay permits. He speaks Wolof - one of Senegals languages. Although not many people in Germany can understand it there are no subtitles. That's part of the concept and points to language predominances. In traditional clothes we see the artist going to search for tracks of the Congo Conference in Berlin. His installation work in the ground floor also deals with the relationship between Africa and the West. It belongs to his well known project Deberlinisation he got 2007 an award at the Dak'Art Biennial for.
Louzla Darabi. A Portrait of the artist in the November 2008 edition
Louzla Darabi shown DU - Das Kulturmagazin. Juli 2008 Edition. Exclusively on the Cover. A Portrait on eight pages with photos.
Louzla Darabi will be presented 2009 at the Joburg Art Fair and the Art Karlsruhe. Together with Malam, Bill Kouélany, Ransome Stanley and Ayana V. Jackson.
2.4. - 5.4.2009
Ayana V. Jackson
Opening: October 17, 7 pm
Exhibition: 18.10. - 22.11.2008
Known for approaching her subjects in a manner that is equal parts personal, technical, and intense, Ayana V. Jackson's images provide viewers with a compelling glimpse of a human condition that overflows borders.
At first glance the images appear to be a simple reproductions of everyday moments or snapshots, but they are more than pure mimetic expressions... more >>
Ransome Stanley
September 6 - October 11, 2008
With his panels, Ransome Stanley makes an original contribution to the art historical debate on the "picture within the picture." The observer is uncertain which spatial plane is being depicted: Are we peering at...
Opening: 16.05.2008. 8 pm.
Exhibition: May 17, to July 12, 2008
Bill Kouélany - Myriam Mihindou - Louzla Darabi - Malam
Bill Kouélany who became well known through documenta 12, deals in her paintings and installations with the themes of death, violence and destruction. The torn edges of the hand-made grey paper, which is used for bricks in a wall or as parts of the human body , is one of the most obvious elements of the images. The images appear fragmentary and fragile fixed onto the canvas with the rough stitches At present she is working on theatre projects
A number of the paintings of Louzla Darabi concern themselves in a provocative way with eroticism and Islam, others satirise well-known leaders in the Islamic world. Her images, which break taboos offend the ethical perception of believing Muslims. As in Sweden some years ago, her work created uproar and censure at the JoburgArtFair. An installation with Fighting Penguins caused a disturbance at the Tate Modern and extensive coverage in the July issue of DU has led to further interest in this artist.
Myriam Mihindou works like a sculptor with her staged presentations of objects: hands and feet tied up in leather, the terracotta forms , pieces of plants mutated with silicone, people with sculptures in strange poses. Micro photos of hair and reflections of schematic figures in glass are enlarged to form wall installations. As with the other three artists, she too is presented in Focus on Africa in Kunsttermine 2/08
Malam sees himself as a supervisor, who, makes apparent to us through his sculptures and collages the fraternisation of politics, Christianity, the pharmaceutical industry and the media. He uses plaster, packaging and waste to express his opinions about the use of foodstuffs to power machines and the reduced freedom of movement imposed on Africans who want to travel. Parallel to the group show, we will be showing a monumental work at Pont Alexandre III in Paris at Hôtel des Invalides this summer.
Opening was Friday February 8, 2008 Opening speech >>(Peter Herrmann. German)
Last years exhibition with many Details and Researchs: more >>
Expert talk/Lecture with Ralf Kotalla
February 20, 2008 at 8 pm
The Thermoluminescence Analysis. Ralf Kotalla was presenting an introduction to Age Determination of Bronzes - Practical Examples, Problems, Solutions. The invitation (German
This Bronze was auctioned at Lempertz in Brüssel at 26.4.2008.
Benin. Highly important Commemorative Head of a King Brass, 50 cm
Estimate € 40.000 – 60.000,-
Auction 918 Tribal Art, Brussels
Auctioned price: € 560.000,-
Provenience: Military-expedition 1897 - W.D. Webster, Collection Geheimrat Prof. Dr. Hans Meyer, Leipzig. Collection Albert Wagenmann, Mannheim.
This Bronze will be auctioned at Sotheby's in Paris June 11, 2008.
An exceptional Benin royal commemorative head of an Oba, Edo, Kingdom of Benin, Nigeria, 18th Century. Bronze, 31,5 cm. Auction PF8009 Important African and Oceanic Art, Paris.
Estimated price € 300.000 – 400.000,-
Auctioned price: € 540.000,-
Provenience: Collection of Governor Guyon, Adolf Hoffmeister, Christina and Rolf Miehler and Various Owners.
The first African contemporary art fair took place in Johannesburg from the 13th to the 16th of March 2008. On sale was the largest collection of African and South African contemporary art the world has ever seen - 5000 square metres of the Sandton Convention Centre have been booked for the event and more then 25 Million Rand has been the business volume.
We were present... pictures, text, press and more >>
