A Pioneering Collection

Abstract

In addition to its collection of 67.000 ethnographic objects, the Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt began engaging with contemporary art practices in Africa forty years ago. Since 1974, the museum has collected almost 3.000 works by artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, mainly produced during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Included here are early works by internationally renowned artists El Anatsui, Twins Seven Seven, Peter Clarke, Cheri Samba, El Hadji Sy and Vincente Malangatana. The museum's research into contemporary art from the African continent is pioneering as it started long before the so called “global turn” in 1989. In this regard, the Weltkulturen collection is unique as it includes works from that specific time. A further defining feature is the collection's four main strands—works from Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa—acquired by German collectors on behalf of the museum, who had different affiliations with the respective regions. The text traces the motivations, ideas and strategies behind the build-up of the Weltkulturen collection while also looking at the question of collecting and presenting contemporary art in the context of an ethnographic museum.