On November 8, in the gallery “On Chistye Prudy”, located in the building of the Business Center of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, an exhibition of African art from the collection of Marina Schmidt “Africa: Love at First Sight” opened.

About 200 works by contemporary African artists are presented on two floors of the Center. Particular attention is drawn to relief panels, wooden and bronze sculptures, and ivory sculptures. Traditional ritual masks, genre scenes from life, portraits, abstract works and phantasmagoric flights of fancy of artists - carvers from Tanzania, Mozambique, Mali, Congo, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia.

Most of the works in the collection were purchased from Soviet specialists and their descendants who worked on the African continent, providing humanitarian and technical assistance to African countries. The exhibits presented at the exhibition date mainly from 1950-1980. It was then, in connection with the decolonization of African countries and their gaining political independence, that a rise in creative activity began, and recognizable new styles in painting appeared.

The exhibition will last until December 3.

Admission is free, the gallery is open daily from 10.00 to 20.00.

By Peter Cheremushkin 

Press Service of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry