Methodological Approaches to Researching Modern Art by African Women Artists

The rise of the contemporary in both research and exhibitions of African visual art and material culture has gained significant traction, placing the historically marginalized study of women artists in twentieth-century Africa at a crossroads. The recent growth in online resources pertaining to global modern art, such as biographical notes by AWARE and contextual essays from the MoMA, has helped to reevaluate the narratives surrounding African women artists of the twentieth century. Surveys on African women artists have proposed that gendered practices are multifaceted (Blackmun Visonà 2021), while also underlining the challenges posed by “incongruent methodological approaches to how that gendered history is constructed” (Makhubu 2020). This has opened opportunities to transform research methodologies and fieldwork strategies. In moving forward, however, despite ongoing reflections on the current state of the field (African Arts 2017 & 2024) and revised trajectories of African modernisms (Critical Interventions 2019), there remains a paucity of directions in the analysis of modern art by individual African women artists. The panel discusses methodological innovations and case studies that underpin novel scholarship on women’s artistic production among twentieth-century African art historiography. The scope encompasses accounts of recent shifts and envisioning future inquiry, especially in respect of Africa-centered perspectives. By engaging in debates about the de/canonization of art historical knowledges, this panel illuminates the previously underrepresented histories of African women artists.