There are collectors of African art all across the world. These collectors have established themselves as leading acquisitors of African art and most of them have established foundations and private museums for this cause. It is no news that art collection plays a vital role in the local and global appreciation of African art, and there are art collectors with massive collections that have made an impact on the African art market.
There are art collectors of African art all over the world but these are the names that caught our attention:
- Jean Pigozzi
Jean Pigozzi started collecting contemporary African art in 1989. Since then, his private collection has become one of the largest in the world and is known as the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC – the Pigozzi Collection). Up to 2008, the collection was curated by independent curator and art dealer André Magnin. It is an ever increasing collection. There are thousands of artworks featuring paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, installations and videos from contemporary artists living in sub-Saharan African countries.
Although Pigozzi’s private collection, which is based in Geneva, does not have a permanent venue that is open to the public, they have exhibited works from the collection across the world. In 2019, Pigozzi donated 45 contemporary African artworks to the Museum of Mordern Art (MoMA).
Image courtesy of the Jean Pigozzi’s collection
- Emile Stipp
Emile Stipp is one of the prominent art collectors in the South Africa’s art scene. He is on the African Acquisitions Committee of Tate. His collection which focuses on contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora, includes major artists who work in painting, sculpture, and photography like Zanele Muholi, David Goldblatt, Nicholas Hlobo, and Edson Chagas. He is so interested in video art and has collected works from Dineo Seshee Bopape, Kudzanai Chiurai, Emeka Ogboh, and Donna Kukama. Stipp has collected African art for more than 20 years. He has also donated works to Tate Modern and the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Gordon Schachat
Gordon Schachat is a South African businessman and art collector. The Gordon Schachat collection premiered at the 2009 Joburg Art Fair. The collection hosted the most prominent piece of the festival Security by Jane Alexander and Tumela Mosaka. Schachat’s private art collection includes works by Robin Rhode, Alexis Preller.
In 2020, Schachat has since opened Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF), an academic research institute and a platform for museum exhibitions. Only 5 people are allowed in at a time in the space to encourage close looking and focus on the pieces displayed.
- Louis Norval
In 2018, Property investor Louis Norval started the Norval Foundation which is dedicated to the research, understanding and care of twentieth and twenty-first century visual art from Africa and its diasporas. Norval has collected art for about 20 years and he has works from Irma Stern, Alexis Preller, George Pemba, amongst others in his personal collection. He often displays works from his personal collection in his foundation. The Norval Foundation space, based in Cape Town, South Africa, contains an exhibition venue and small galleries, a library and an artist’s residence.
Image courtesy of Norval Foundation
