Was ist afrikanische Kunst?

When discussing African art, one enters contested territory.

Demands for the restitution of cultural property and questions regarding a fundamental revision of previous collection practices have also reached the German public with the opening of the Humboldt Forum. Western interpretations stand in a tense contrast to the practices and interpretations of African artists, scholars, and curators, who present, represent, and exhibit their own understanding of African art. Peter Probst therefore begins with a simple question: What do we actually mean when we talk about African art? By engaging with the historically changing answers to this question, African art becomes readable as a historical concept in which extensive societal tensions and transformations manifest.

The book focuses on three key phases. Beginning with the late 19th to the mid-20th century, Peter Probst first presents the colonial formation of the field as an object of aesthetic consideration as well as political power relations. He then examines its transformation at the beginning of African independence, with a shift towards contemporary art and the rise of Black Atlantic Studies in the 1970s and 1980s. Finally, the focus is on the post- and decolonial reconfiguration of the field, which is shaped by questions of representation, revision, and restitution.