UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles the Art of Diplomacy in Dakar the International Politics of Display at the 1966 Premier
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles The Art of Diplomacy in Dakar The International Politics of Display at the 1966 Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History by Lauren Elizabeth Taylor 2019 © Copyright by Lauren Elizabeth Taylor 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION The Art of Diplomacy in Dakar The International Politics of Display at the 1966 Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres by Lauren Elizabeth Taylor Doctor of Philosophy in Art History University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Steven D. Nelson, Chair This dissertation examines the displays of the visual arts that appeared in the 1966 Premier Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (First World Festival of Negro Arts) with respect to mid-century international politics. In addition to performances of dance and music, film screenings, poetry readings, and a scholarly colloquium, the state-sponsored Festival, held in Dakar, Senegal, included two major art exhibitions. The first, titled l’Art Nègre: Sources, Évolution, Expansion (Negro Art: Sources, Evolution, Expansion), brought together more than 500 works of African art loaned from collections in nineteen countries. The other, called ii Tendances et Confrontations (Tendencies and Confrontations), was composed of contemporary art by African and African-descended artists working on the continent and throughout the diaspora. Drawing upon archival documents and photography from collections in Senegal, France, Switzerland, and the United States, my project examines the various diplomatic roles played by the visual arts at the event. On one hand, the arts reinforced symbolic or spiritual ties posited to be shared by all humankind.
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