Atta Kwami (14 September 1956 – 6 October 2021)[1][2] was a Ghanaian painter, printmaker, independent art historian and curator. He was educated and taught at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, and in the United Kingdom. He created works that improvise form and colour and speak to uniquely Ghanaian architecture and African strip-woven textiles, including those of the Kente, the Ewe and Asante of Ghana.
Atta Kwami | |
|---|---|
| Born | George Atta Kwami 14 September 1956 Accra, Ghana |
| Died | 6 October 2021 (aged 65) UK |
| Nationality | Ghanaian |
| Alma mater | Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology |
| Occupation(s) | Painter, printmaker, art historian and curator |
Early life and education
editBorn George Atta Kwami in 1956 in Accra to Robert Kwami, a music teacher, and prominent first generation Ghanaian contemporary artist Grace Kwami (nee Anku),[2] he studied, and later taught, at the KNUST in Kumasi, Ghana. In 2007 he received a PhD in art history at the Open University for his work for contemporary Ghanaian artists, now published as Kumasi Realism, 1951–2007: An African Modernism (Hurst & Company, 2013).[3]
Career
editKwami was awarded the title of 1st Thoyer Distinguished Visiting Scholar in New York University, New York, from 30 September to 8 October 2008.[4]
Kwami also held the Philip L. Ravenhill Fellowship (UCLA) at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, from 1 March to 31 May 2010.
He was Artist-in-Residence at the University of Michigan, Graduate School of Art & Design, in January 2011.[5]
Kwami won the Janet L. Stanley Travel Award to attend the Fifteenth Triennial Symposium on African Art entitled "Africa and its Diasporas in the Market Place: Cultural Resources and the Global Economy" at the University of California, Los Angeles, from 23 to 26 March 2011.[6]
Between 14 and 26 August 2011, he undertook the Howard Kestenbaum/Vijay Paramsothy International Fellowship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine, USA.
In 2021, he won the Maria Lassnig Prize from the Maria Lassnig Foundation in Vienna and the Serpentine Galleries in the UK.[7]
Exhibitions
editKwami's work has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,[8] National Museum of African Art,[9] National Museum of Ghana, National Museum of Kenya, Victoria and Albert Museum,[10] the World Museum,[11] and the British Museum.[12]
Personal life
editIn 1992, Kwami married Pamela Clarkson,[1] a painter and printmaker who he had met in 1991 when she set up a printmaking studio at the College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. They divided their time between Kumasi, Ghana, and Loughborough, United Kingdom.[13]
He died of cancer in the UK on 6 October 2021.[14]
References
edit- ^ a b Basciano, Oliver (15 October 2021). "Atta Kwami obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ a b Wemega-Kwawu, Rikki. "Transition: Atta Kwami,1956 - 2021". Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ "Atta Kwami - Creative Folkestone". www.creativefolkestone.org.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Afro Combs". www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Afro Combs". www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ Arts Council of the African Studies Association (March 2011). "Fifteenth Triennial Symposium on African Art" (PDF). ACASA Online. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
- ^ "Atta Kwami Public Art Commission: Maria Lassnig Foundation x Serpentine Galleries". Serpentine Galleries. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "Atta Kwami | A suite of five linocuts individually titled: Kpong, Kpetoe, Vane, Tsito, Juapong | The Met". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, i.e. The Met Museum. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "Collections | National Museum of African Art". africa.si.edu. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "Mask | Kwami, Atta | V&A Search the Collections". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "George Atta Kwami". www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "Term details". British Museum. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ "About". www.pamela-clarkson-kwami.com. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
- ^ Wemega–Kwawu, Rikki. "Transition: Atta Kwami,1956 – 2021". Retrieved 20 October 2022.