A unique examination of visual art in post-independence Senegal, "In Senghor's Shadow" explores the complex interplay of cultural nationalism, negotiations of postcolonial identity, and an emergent artistic modernism. As a major philosopher and poet of Negritude, Leopold Sedar Senghor, postcolonial Senegal's first president, envisioned an active and revolutionary role for modern artists, and he created a well-funded system for nurturing the arts. Harney analyzes Senghor's Negritude philosophy; the canon of art - known as the Ecole de Dakar - produced under his aegis; and the art created as his patronage system waned. By considering the Ecole de Dakar on its own terms, Harney challenges dismissive characterizations of it as derivative of European primitivism.Highlighting the distinctive cultural history that shaped Sengalese modernism, she reveals its innovations, diversity, and dynamism. Harney surveys the work of a range of Senegalese artists, including painters, muralists, sculptors, and performance-based groups - from those who worked at the height of Senghor's patronage system to those who graduated from art school in the early 1990s.Based on fieldwork in Dakar, she describes the particularities of artists' education, practices, and works.
She assesses modes of display and interpretation of Senegalese art in Dakar and abroad.Harney discusses art created in the 1960s, during the heady early days of independence, as well as works produced in the less optimistic climate of the 1970s and 1980s. She also considers more recent work by artists including Moustapha Dime, Germaine Anta Gaye, and Kan-Si. Assessing the increasingly trans-national nature of Dakar's art world, she reflects on the marketing of "international" art. Harney's study is an important look at the particular modernism that flourished in the long shadow of Leopold Senghor.
