Malangatana:
Mozambique Modern

• Introduction: Looking in All Directions
  

  An overview of this publication is presented with an introduction to Malangatana’s early career.

  
  Hendrik Folkerts
• Malangatana as Ethnographer? Modern Paintings of Village Life
  

  This discussion of the ethnographic elements in Malangatana’s early work situates his oeuvre with respect to the global trajectory of modern art.

  
  Constantine Petridis
• Affinities: Malangatana, Surrealism, and Black Liberatory Politics
  

  This consideration of the surrealist aspects of Malangatana’s early work argues that his career reflects both the political ambitions and the international character of surrealism.

  
  Felicia Mings
• Deep Ambivalences: Malangatana’s Anti/Colonial Aesthetic
  

  Malangatana’s early paintings and drawings are analyzed with respect to his multifaceted and evolving engagement with Mozambique’s efforts to achieve independence from Portugal.

  
  Mário Pissarra
• “The Complete Painter”: Malangatana’s Approach to Painting, 1959–75
  

  Conservation scientists describe their research on Malangatana’s painting methodologies and what was revealed by both material evidence and the state-of-the-art visualization techniques they applied to his early work.

  
  Allison Langley, Katrina Rush, and Julie Simek

• Works in the Exhibition
  

  This section documents the paintings, drawings, and interpretive texts that appeared in the Art Institute’s exhibition dedicated to the early work of Malangatana Ngwenya.

  
  View gallery
• Installation Views
  

  This section documents the design of the Art Institute’s exhibition of early work by Malangatana Ngwenya, presenting photographs and a video tour of the installation.

  
  View gallery

Major funding for Malangatana: Mozambique Modern was provided by Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel and the Alfred L. McDougal and Nancy Lauter McDougal Fund for Contemporary Art.

Additional support was contributed by the Society for Contemporary Art through the SCA Activation Fund and the Miriam U. Hoover Foundation.

Members of the Luminary Trust provide annual leadership support for the museum's operations, including exhibition development, conservation and collection care, and educational programming. The Luminary Trust includes an anonymous donor; Neil Bluhm and the Bluhm Family Charitable Foundation; Jay Franke and David Herro; Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel, Jr.; Kenneth C. Griffin; Caryn and King Harris, The Harris Family Foundation; Josef and Margot Lakonishok; Robert M. and Diane v.S. Levy; Ann and Samuel M. Mencoff; Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel; Anne and Chris Reyes; Cari and Michael J. Sacks; and the Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation.

Hendrik Folkerts, Felicia Mings, and Constantine Petridis, eds. Malangatana: Mozambique Modern—The Modern Series at the Art Institute of Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.

Citation URL: https://www.artic.edu/digital-publications/34/malangatana-mozambique-modern

DOI: https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593138