Press Release Issued, : Tuesday 4 June 2019

EL ANATSUI FIRST RETROSPECTIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AT MATHAF: ARAB MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN DOHA

High resolution images can be downloaded here: https://bit.ly/2XoNexr El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale, the largest ever survey mounted of the work of the acclaimed artist El Anatsui (born 1944, Ghana) perhaps Africa’s most prominent living artist, will go on show at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art from 1 October 2019 – 31 January 2020.

As the exhibition title suggests, the survey, curated by the late Okwui Enwezor, former Director of Haus der Kunst and Chika Okeke-Agulu, Professor of Art History at the Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, will focus on the triumphant and monumental quality of Anatsui’s sculptures. The exhibition will encompass every medium in the artist’s prodigious fifty year career, including the signature bottle-cap series developed over the last two decades, wood sculptures and wall reliefs spanning the mid-1970s to the late 1990s; ceramic sculptures of the late 1970s, as well as drawings, prints and books.

Abdellah Karroum, Director, Mathaf, said today: “I am proud that Mathaf is hosting this important exhibition, the first major show in the Middle East for El Anatsui, now regarded as one of Africa’s greatest living artists. This exhibition also stands for the close working relationship we have enjoyed with Okwui Enwezor over many years. We are grateful for the immense legacy he has left us as an art historian and curator. We look forward to welcoming audiences in Doha for what we believe will be a boundary breaking exhibition for the region and a fitting celebration of a great artist.“

El Anatsui has consistently worked to transform the formal possibilities of African sculptural idioms and, over fifty years, he has repeatedly revised and reinvented his material and compositional techniques to astonishing effect - from the early smaller wooden reliefs with their incised markings and broken ceramic forms, to the monumental outdoor cement sculptures, and, more recently, the vast and spectacular metal wall and floor works, which blur the boundaries between sculpture, painting and assemblage.

El Anatsui generates meaning out of his material and technical process. For example, the bottle caps come from hard liquors introduced by Europeans, as currency - and thus a means of subjugation - during the era of transatlantic slavery and colonization. The process of cutting, flattening, squeezing, twisting, folding and stitching together with copper wire thousands of these bottle caps into a single work, speaks to the making of human communities out of connected individual subjectivities.

The exhibition is organized by Haus der Kunst, Munich in cooperation with Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, the Kunstmuseum Bern and Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. Following its showing at Mathaf, the exhibition will tour to the Kunstmuseum Bern March 13 to June 21, 2020; and then to Guggenheim Bilbao July 17 to November 1, 2020.

Prestel will publish an exhibition catalogue of 320 pages, with extensive illustrations from the artist's archive, authored by Enwezor and Okeke-Agulu.

El Anatsui: Triumphant Scale 1 October 2019 – 31 January 2020 Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art Education City Centre, Doha, Open daily 9 am to 7 pm, except Friday 1.30 pm – 7 pm. Admission free www.mathaf.org,qa

Press Contacts:

Rania Hussein, Qatar Museums: [email protected] (+974 4402 8535) Federica Zuccarini, Qatar Museums: [email protected] (+974 4402 8510)

Jane Quinn/Dennis Chang, Bolton & Quinn +44 (0) 20 7221 5000 [email protected] [email protected]

El Anatsui: Biography

After training in sculpture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Accra from 1965-1969, El Anatsui (b. 1944, Anyako, Ghana) taught at the Specialist Training College in Winneba, Ghana. In 1975, he moved to Nigeria where he taught sculpture and design for four decades at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, becoming an emeritus professor in 2016.

A member of the Aka Circle of Exhibiting Artists and a leading figure of the Nsukka School, El Anatsui has exhibited in five continents over the last 50 years. His numerous solo exhibitions include "Wooden Wall Plaques", Asele Art Gallery, Nsukka, Nigeria (1976); "Broken Pots: Sculpture by El Anatsui," Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1979); "Venovize: Ceramic Sculpture by El Anatsui", Faculty of Art and Design Gallery, Cornwall College, Redruth (1987); Gawu, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales (2003); "Gli", Rice University Art Gallery, Houston (2010); "A Fateful Journey", National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, and The Museum of Modern Art, Hayama (2010); "Gravity and Grace: Monumental Works by El Anatsui," Akron Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, New York, Des Moines Art Center, Bass Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2012- 2015) and many other exhibitions in museums, galleries and foundations.

El Anatsui has participated in major group exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1990 and 2007); the 5th Biennale in Havana (1994); the lst Johannesburg Biennale (1995); and the biennials of Dakar (2000), Liverpool (2002), Gwangju (2004) and Marrakesh (2016); as well as the 9th Sculpture Biennial of Osaka (1998) and La Triennale, Paris (2012). He is one of the featured artists in the first Ghana National Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

Public commissions include Broken Bridge for La Triennale, Paris (Museé Galiera) 2012; Broken Bridge II, 2012-2013, presented by Friends of the High Line, New York; and Tsiatsia - Searching for Connection, 2013 on the facade of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Most recently Three Angles was installed on the facade of the Carnegie Museum for the 2018 Carnegie International, Pittsburgh.

El Anatsui has received many prestigious awards, including the Praemium Imperiale (2017); the Golden Lion for Life Work at the Venice Biennale (2015); the Audience Award at the 7th Triennale of Small Sculpture in Fellbach; and the Kansai Telecasting Prize at the Osaka Triennale (1995). He has received honorary doctorates from Harvard University and the University of Cape Town (2016) and he was made an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2014) and the Royal Academy of Art (2013). He won the Claus Award (2009) and the 30th Anniversary Award from the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (2009), among others.

El Anatsui's work is in major public collections in Africa, Asia, North America and Europe, including the Asele Institute (Nimo); the African Studies Gallery of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (Nsukka); The British Museum (London); The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C.); the Centre Pompidou (Paris); the Los Angeles County Museum (Los Angeles); the Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines); the De Young Museum (San Francisco); the Museum Kunstpalast (Dusseldorf); the Setagaya Museum (Tokyo); the National Gallery of Modern Art (Lagos); the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); the Museum of Modern Art (New York); the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto); the Tate (London); the Nelson-Atkins Museum (Kansas City); the Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth (Bayreuth); the National Museum (Amman); the Leeum Samsung Museum (Seoul); the Brooklyn Museum (New York); The Broad (Los Angeles); the Indianapolis Museum of Art (Indianapolis); the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston); the Guggenheim Museum (Abu Dhabi) and the Saint Louis Art Museum (Saint Louis).

El Anatsui lives and works in Nsukka, Nigeria.

About Mathaf

Home to a permanent collection that offers a uniquely comprehensive overview of modern Arab art, Mathaf (“museum” in ) also performs an important role as a centre for dialogue and scholarship and a resource for fostering creativity. Established by Qatar Museums in partnership with (QF), the museum is located in a former school building in QF’s Education City that has been transformed by French architect Jean-François Bodin.

An initial group of works, assembled by its founder H.E. Hassan bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Thani, was donated to the public institution. Sheikh Hassan began his collection in the 1980s, starting with the acquisition of works by Qatari artists and then broadening its focus to include works by 20th century artists throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and the Arab Diaspora, as well as objects that inspired many Arab modern artists, such as pre-Islamic works from ancient Mesopotamia and .

Abdellah Karroum has served as director of Mathaf since 2013. During his time at the museum, he has played an important role in the growth of Mathaf’s permanent collection and has developed several programmes that have explored experimental curatorial practices and focused on developing and nurturing artistic talent in the region.

About Qatar Museums

Qatar Museums connects the museums, cultural institutions and heritage sites in Qatar and creates the conditions for them to thrive and flourish. It centralises resources and provides a comprehensive organisation for the development of museums and cultural projects, with a long term ambition of creating a strong and sustainable cultural infrastructure for Qatar. Under the patronage of His the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and led by its Chairperson, Her Excellency Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, QM is consolidating Qatar’s efforts to become a vibrant centre for the arts, culture and education, in the Middle East and beyond.

Since its foundation in 2005, QM has overseen the development of the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Fire Station: Artists in Residence, The National Museum of Qatar and the Al Zubarah World Heritage Site Visitor Centre, among other projects. Future projects include the launch of the highly anticipated 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum.

QM is committed to instigating Qatar’s future generation of arts, heritage and museum professionals. At its core is a commitment to nurturing artistic talent, creating opportunities and developing the skills to service Qatar’s emerging art economy. By means of a multi-faceted program and public art initiatives, QM seeks to push the boundaries of the traditional museum model, and create cultural experiences that spill out onto the streets and seek to involve a wide audience. Through a strong emphasis on originating art and culture from within and fostering a spirit of national participation, QM is helping Qatar find its own distinctive voice in today’s global cultural debates.

Qatar Foundation – Unlocking Human Potential

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) is a non-profit organization that supports Qatar on its journey to becoming a diversified and sustainable economy. QF strives to serve the people of Qatar and beyond by providing specialized programs across its innovation-focused ecosystem of education, research and development, and community development.

QF was founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Amir, and Her Highness Sheikha , who shared the vision to provide Qatar with quality education. Today, QF’s world-class education system offers lifelong learning opportunities to community members as young as six months through to doctoral level, enabling graduates to thrive in a global environment and contribute to the nation’s development.

QF is also creating a multidisciplinary innovation hub in Qatar, where homegrown researchers are working to address local and global challenges. By promoting a culture of lifelong learning and fostering social engagement through programs that embody Qatari culture, QF is committed to empowering the local community and contributing to a better world for all.

For a complete list of QF’s initiatives and projects, please visit: www.qf.org.qa For any media inquiries, please contact: [email protected]