Ruth Baumgarte and African Masters Converge at Iwalewahaus

The Iwalewahaus at the University of Bayreuth presents 'Ayeye! Ruth Baumgarte im Iwalewahaus,' pairing around 50 works by German painter Ruth Baumgarte with an equal number of pieces by African artists from the museum's collection. The exhibition explores themes of migration and the exchange of ideas. Featured artists include Congolese stars Chéri Samba and Mulala Landry, South African Mbongeni Buthelezi, and pioneers such as Antoinette Lubaki, Djilatendo, and Nigerian modernist Asiru Olatunde. Baumgarte (1923–2013) first traveled to Africa in 1957, visiting Egypt and South Africa, and resumed journeys from 1980 onward. Her 'Afrika-Zyklus,' first shown in 1993, blends realism and abstraction with saturated colors, depicting trance dancers and fragmented compositions reminiscent of Jimoh Buraimoh's work. Chéri Samba's large-scale 'Le Départ des Blancs et l’Arrivée des Jaunes en Afrique' offers a biting colonial critique. Djilatendo's delicate watercolors contrast with Malangatana Valente Ngwenya's dystopian 'To the Clandestine Maternity Home' (1961). The Iwalewahaus, a university-affiliated research center, holds Europe's most extensive collection of contemporary African art.