Agbagli Kossi (1935-1991) was a

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its ...

lese sculptor, whose work was representative of the West African

Vodun art Vodun art is associated with the West African Vodun religion of Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. The term is sometimes used more generally for art associated with related religions of West and Central Africa and of the African diaspora in Brazil, ...

tradition. He was born in Bè, a district of

Lomé Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. It has an urban population of 837,437

, and became an eminent figure among the vodou circles of Togo. He was particularly noted for his little wooden voodoo figures, painted mostly with pink lacquer, and occasionally white. He produced many examples of statuettes of twins, and children with their mothers, known as ''venavi''. Kossi exhibited at the Magiciens de la terre exhibition at the

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris in 1989 and in 1991 his work was shown at an exhibition in

Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno The Atlantic Center for Modern Art (Spanish:''Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno (CAAM)'' ) is a contemporary art museum in the Canary Islands, Spain. It is in Vegueta in Las Palmas, the capital city of Gran Canaria. The building was designe ...

, in

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the au ...

, Spain. In 2008 his work appeared at the Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas showcasing at the

Fowler Museum The Fowler Museum at UCLA, commonly known as The Fowler, and formerly Museum of Cultural History and Fowler Museum of Cultural History, is a museum on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which explores art and material ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

in Los Angeles. Today, his work is represented in

The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) is a private collection created in 1989 by Jean Pigozzi, an Italian businessman. As of May 2022, the collection was based in Geneva, Switzerland, but it "does not have a permanent exhibition venue". ...

References

Togolese sculptors 1935 births 1991 deaths Voodoo artists Voodoo practitioners Carpenters Woodcarvers People from Lomé {{Africa-sculptor-stub