1-54's Modernist turn asks who writes African art history

An art fair can offer a way into history as well as a room full of objects. At Somerset House, this year's 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair adds a spotlight on Modernist artists from Africa and its diaspora. The venue's programme includes curated booth presentations and West Wind, a 1-54 Presents exhibition curated by South African-Portuguese art historian Dr Nancy Dantas.

For students, makers and curious visitors, the useful move is to slow down at a label. Who made this work, when, and through which material or process? Who has chosen to bring it into this particular conversation? Those questions make a large category such as African Modernism more specific. They also leave room for differences between artists, rather than expecting one presentation to speak for a continent.

Start with how something was made

The organiser's West Wind page gives a concrete starting point in Kofi Antubam's Akan Musicians. Its account describes a wood relief worked with chisel and adze, linking the scene to daily life and Ghanaian cultural forms. That directs attention towards carving, tools and the organisation of a scene. It is the organiser's interpretation, which a reader can examine alongside the work and its label.

Another entry presents Papa Ibra Tall's Study for 'Wonders of the Bush' as a cartoon made to guide a tapestry. Here, cartoon means a preparatory design, not a comic strip. For a maker, that suggests a different question: what has to travel from a drawing into a woven object? Consider how a line, edge or repeated shape might change between processes. That is a proposed reading exercise, not a reconstruction of this tapestry's production.

Follow a particular history

The same page dates Uzo Egonu's Dancers to 1964 and places it in the artist's years in England, discussing his engagement with Igbo heritage. This offers a specific African and British connection to follow. Read the date and the biography together, then ask how the account supports its interpretation of the painting. A present-day London display and the work's original historical moment are two different parts of that story.

Try making a short comparison between two entries: material, date, place, and the person or gallery presenting each one. Keep the language of the source visible in your notes. An observation about a carved surface is different from a curatorial explanation of identity or memory. Both can be useful, but they answer different questions. PING has not examined these works in person.

Ask what attention can build

Somerset House also announces a panel, Contemporary African Art After the Spotlight: Visibility, Value and the Institutions Still to Come. Scheduled for 17 October, 11am-noon in the Screening Room, it is listed as free with a fair ticket for that same day. Its stated questions concern artistic narratives, collections and cultural infrastructure. The programme describes an intended discussion, not evidence that lasting institutional change has already followed.

For readers following the fair from outside London, the online programme can be a starting list of people, galleries and institutions to research. Ask where an artist's work can be studied beyond a short fair appearance: in a public collection, an archive, a catalogue or another documented exhibition. Check the institution's own record rather than assuming a fair listing guarantees continuing access. Those enquiries turn visibility into a practical research trail, while leaving the question of lasting support open.

Keep the dates straight

The organiser lists 15 October as the press and VIP preview, followed by public opening on 16-18 October. Saturday's listed hours are 11am-7pm and Sunday's 11am-6pm. Check the current venue listing and ticket conditions before travelling; PING has made no booking. Whether reading online or visiting, follow the materials, credit the people shaping the presentation, and carry the unanswered historical questions into your next piece of research. Find more culture and design coverage in PING's reading archive.