‘Afro-Ghanaian influences in Ghanaian paintings’

Abstract

Easel painting is a foreign art form whose materials and techniques were introduced by the Europeans into the Gold Coast, now Ghana, in the first decades of the twentieth century during the period of European modern art. Since its introduction as an academic discipline, concepts identified as Ghanaian have been incorporated into it. Hence there is the need for scholarly debate on this subject to define a framework for a discourse on the histories and receptions of Ghanaian painting. This article discusses Ghanaian easel painting by examining some African and non-African voices in the discourse on modern and contemporary African art, its early teaching methods and philosophy, and their impact on modern and post-colonial painters. To what degree did early instructors succeed in their insistence on students incorporating Ghanaian aesthetics and principles in their studies, and what impact has this had on subsequent painters?

Keywords

• modern art
• postmodern painting
• Achimota
• Antubam
• Aggrey