Photo by Stephen White & Co.“After Matisse showed Picasso African art for the first time,” he says, “it changed the history of modern art.” This is no hyperbole. More African masks are appended to classical European statues of a sphinx and the goat-legged god Pan. All are replicas of masks Picasso owned. The west created this hybrid monster which is myself.”There’s no doubting the imperialist context of Picasso’s African art encounter, however. White artists don’t have a monopoly on aesthetics.”Yinka Shonibare: African Spirits of Modernism is at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, until 31 July.

Source: The Guardian June 14, 2021 04:52 UTC