1966, Dakar. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Quai Branly, many observers emphasize how the opening of this museum was decisive for the institutional recognition of extra-Western, and particularly African, arts. This is undeniable, however the inauguration of the Parisian establishment is not the first historic milestone in this conquest of visibility. The real turning point took place four decades earlier during the holding of the first World Festival of Negro Arts (Fesman) in Dakar. This event, whose sixtieth anniversary is being commemorated, had a profound impact on people’s minds since it was the first major cultural event organized in Africa in the years following independence.
As is often the case with what was happening on the black continent at this time, it was Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) who was in charge. A charismatic personality, the poet established himself as an essential politician since the Second World War. President of the brand new Republic of Senegal, he is also the author of Red lion, the country’s national anthem. For the statesman and man of letters, culture logically occupies a strategic place in the development of his country. But also more broadly of Africa, of which Senegal is becoming, under his leadership, a showcase of know-how.
In order to promote local talents, Senghor created prestigious institutions with a bright future, including the Daniel-Sorano National Theater (TNDS), the Thiès tapestry factory, and the Dynamic Museum of Dakar. This site will also be the beating heart of the Festival organized from April 1 to 24. It is difficult to imagine today the excitement of this new type of event which celebrates traditions and contemporary creation in the same movement. For the first time, an African country celebrates the creativity and diversity of the arts of inhabitants and diasporas in a model destined to flourish, since its formula will be taken up and adapted in Algiers three years later and in Lagos in 1977.
Poster for the 1st World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal in 1966, created by the Senegalese artist Ibou Diouf.
Celebrating Pan-Africanism
For three weeks, two thousand artists, writers and musicians flock to Dakar. The program is rich, diverse, but also surprising. Alongside art exhibitions, plays and dance and gospel performances; the numerous visitors thus discover, amazed, military parades and animal sacrifices in the open air! But the most popular and commented event is logically the concert of the American jazz superstar, Duke Ellington. In fact, Fesman aims to bring together black artists from all over the world wishing to join their “African brothers” as Senghor then exhorted them. Cantor of negritude and pan-Africanism, the president-poet, means by this unprecedented meeting “helping the construction of the civilization of the universal”. The words he had inscribed on the frontispiece of the new Dynamic Museum (that’s his name) are unequivocal about his ambition: “Only Man can dream and express his dream in works that surpass him. And in this area the Negro is king. Hence the exemplary value of Black African civilization and the need to decipher it in order to found a new humanism on it. »
A major exhibition and debates
And what better way to reveal a civilization than an XXL exhibition? The organizers of the Exhibition of Traditional African Art have indeed seen the big picture for this historic event, preceded by a conference. Organized under the patronage of UNESCO, the latter brings together for a week at the palace of the National Assembly of Senegal a collection of curators, archaeologists, writers, and even ethnologists expounding on African art. This meeting of experts aims to scientifically establish the exhibition which was the first of this magnitude on the continent. It is obviously Senghor who opens the ball with the speeches, with his famous declaration: “Negro art cannot be denied for long. » And in fact, the flagship exhibition “Negro Art: sources, evolution, expansion” will endeavor to offer it an exceptional platform. For the first time, masterpieces created on this land and then dispersed in museums and private collections around the world are brought together in Africa, as well as pieces still used during ceremonies. To orchestrate this exhibition with nearly 600 loans, it was necessary to coordinate seven African and Western curators under the direction of Georges-Henri Rivière, the herald of modern museography. The preparation of this titanic exhibition, which was subsequently presented at the Grand Palais in Paris, required extraordinary inventory work to locate the works. This field investigation was patiently carried out by a Cameroonian cleric, Engelbert Mveng, and Jean Gabus, the director of the Neuchâtel Ethnographic Museum (MEN). This astonishing duo prospected with museums, researchers and collectors in order to obtain both master pieces documenting the art of the royal courts, but also everyday masterpieces and contemporary ritual objects.
Their exceptional work is closely followed by the Senegalese press, which regularly publishes news articles announcing the nuggets that the prospectors have won through hard work. Despite the enthusiasm for this project, setting up such an exhibition is obviously not without encountering some difficulties. The oh-so-sensitive subject of restitution thus inevitably comes to the negotiating table. In order to reassure lenders, Senghor must even make a personal commitment. “Some countries or certain people likely to grant loans have objected to the risk of attempts to claim”confirms the booklet published by Fesman. “ The President of the Republic of Senegal has on several occasions given formal assurances that such attempts would not be tolerated. » Sixty years later, these words are still extremely relevant.
