Contemporary African Artists Database: A New Initiative

This pioneering venture, which is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, will create a computerized database of contemporary African artists and generate a series of bio-bibliographic dictionaries, all fully illustrated. It aims to promote networking among African artists throughout the world and to encourage new initiatives in the collection, documentation and dissemination of contemporary African art. The database is classified by country and will include artists who have been working since the 1920's, in addition to important artists from earlier dates. Both database and printed volumes will include sections on public and private art museums, galleries, archives, collections, art schools, and other resources relevant to each country.

In conjunction with Salah Hassan, Associate Professor in Africana Studies and the History of Art departments at Cornell University, and the John Henrik Clarke Africana Library, Cornell Institute for Digital Collections (CIDC) is providing infrastructure and systems support for the Contemporary African Artists Database (CAAD) project. CIDC staff developed a database that is used to organize and characterize information about the artists, such as artistic genre and media, nationality, and exhibitions. The contemporary African artists database is accessible via the web for searching.  In addition, authorized users can update and add to the database via the web site. CIDC has linked up to five representative images to the database record for each artist, thus providing a sample of the artist's work.  Future work on the database will include exploring extending the database

The Inevitable by Ibrahim Mohammed El-Salahi

The Inevitable by Ibrahim Mohammed El-Salahi

India Ink on 9 panels viewed together, 209 x 238 in.

Courtesy of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University.

Purchased with proceeds from the African Acquisistion Fund.