The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) is a private collection created in 1989 by

Jean Pigozzi Jean "Johnny" Pigozzi (born 1952), heir to the CEO of the automobile brand Simca, is an art collector, photographer, fashion designer and . He lives in Geneva. Biography Pigozzi is a "French-born Italian". He was born in Paris in 1952 and is ...

, an Italian businessman. As of May 2022, the collection was based in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, but it "does not have a permanent exhibition venue". after his encounter with French independent curator, André Magnin. Magnin specializes in art from non-Western cultures, and especially sub-Saharan art. The CAAC came into being at a time when non-Western contemporary art was largely ignored on the international scene. It was founded shortly after the seminal exhibition ''The Magicians of the Earth'' at the Pompidou Center in Paris, curated by Jean-Huber Martin. It was the first truly international exhibition where contemporary works from all over the world were shown on an equal footing. The CAAC includes several thousand artworks, featuring sculptures, drawings, photographs, installations and videos, by over 80 artists, living and working in sub-Saharan African countries. Some of its artists live in large cities and attended art schools. Others were "self-taught" and some are from remote areas and work within local traditions that they extend and enrich. The CAAC regularly organizes exhibitions and artwork loans in major museums and art foundations around the world, such as

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is ...

(London), Pompidou Center (Paris), Guggenheim Bilbao,

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(NY),

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

(Texas), National Museum of African Art (Washington),

Cartier Foundation The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain, known simply as the Fondation Cartier, is a contemporary art museum located at 261 boulevard Raspail in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, 14th arrondissement of the France, French capital, Paris. H ...

(Paris) and the

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

(London). It also has published several catalogues and monographies.

Artists in the collection

References

External links

The Contemporary African Art Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contemporary African Art Collection African art African art museums Voodoo art 1990 establishments in Italy Private collections in Italy