Revealing the ‘trends and confrontations’ of contemporary African-American art through the First World Festival

Abstract

In 1966, Dakar, Senegal hosted the First World Festival of Black and African Culture (FESMAN) and invited black nations to curate exhibitions for this first major Pan-African festival. This was a seminal moment for the presentation of contemporary African-American visual art on a global stage, and one that would remain a touchstone for future Pan-African cultural presentations. This article examines the organization, implementation, and aftermath of the African-American contribution to FESMAN’s exhibition of contemporary art, Tendances et confrontations (‘Trends and Confrontations’). The opportunity to stage an exhibition of contemporary African-American art at the festival in Senegal was as much about raising the profile of black artists within the United States as on the international stage of the festival. The history of this exhibition also illuminates the contributions of African-American artists to contemporary art and how the US Visual Arts Committee sought to organize a truly national exhibition. The controversies surrounding this exhibition, however, also speak to the problematic structures of the US art world, and who had the authority to select and speak for African-American art.