Ernest Mancoba: “I Shall Dance in a Different Society”

In the summer of 2019, major museums in Paris hosted exhibitions with a theme of African or Black Art, and culture. From Black Models: From Géricault to Matisse (Musée d'Orsay), an exhibition about the representation of Black figures in visual arts through art historical background and racial and political issues, to Paris-London, Music Migrations (1968–89) (Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration), an exhibition on musical migration between two cities formed with politics and antiracist struggle of the period (as in the example of “father of Afrobeat” Fela Kuti), recent exhibitions showed the interest of museums in these underrepresented artists and subjects. The Musée du Quai Branly—Jacques Chirac in cooperation with Musée d'Orsay, Musée de l'Orangerie (Paris), and MoMA (New York) held an exhibition about the journalist, editor, collector, and anarchist Félix Fénéon (1861–1944). It contained a very precious collection of about a hundred artifacts—including artworks from Africa and Oceania—and paintings...