This week, the hotly anticipated exhibition Henri Matisse: Rhythm and Meaning opened at the Standard Bank Gallery. Excitement has been whipped up by a marketing campaign eager to point out that this will mark "the first Matisse exhibition in Africa", underscored by the social media hashtag #MatisseinSA.It would be strange not to highlight Matisse’s relationship to the continent , seeing as his revolution of colour and line was partly inspired by African art.But when it comes to crediting African influence in European modern art, Standard Bank has a tainted track record. Ten years ago, it brought us Picasso and Africa to spark "innovative dialogue between Picasso’s work and his African inspiration", but came under fire for downplaying the Cubist’s debt to African art.By uncritically presenting Picasso’s work alongside African sculptures akin to those from his collection, the show did not do enough to challenge Picasso’s dismissal of African art: "L’art negre? Never heard of it!"The p...
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