Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, also known as Cheik Nadro (11 March 1923 – 28 January 2014), was an Ivorian artist.

Life and career

Bouabré was born in

Zépréguhé Zépréguhé is a village in western Ivory Coast. It is in the sub-prefectures of Ivory Coast, sub-prefecture of Daloa, Daloa Department, Haut-Sassandra Region, Sassandra-Marahoué District. Until 2012, Zépréguhé was in the Communes of Ivory Co ...

, Ivory Coast, and was among the first Ivorians to be educated by the French colonial government. On 11 March 1948, he received a

vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

, which directly influenced much of his later works. Bouabré created many of his hundreds of small drawings while working as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

in various government offices. These drawings depicted many different subjects, mostly drawn from local

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

; some also described his own visions. All the drawings are part of a larger cycle, titled ''

World Knowledge In artificial intelligence research, commonsense knowledge consists of facts about the everyday world, such as "Lemons are sour", that all humans are expected to know. It is currently an unsolved problem in Artificial General Intelligence. The f ...

''. Bouabré also created a 448-letter, universal Bété syllabary, which he used to transcribe the

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

of his people, the Bétés. His visual language is portrayed on some 1,000 small cards using ballpoint pens and crayons, with symbolic imagery surrounded by text, each carrying a unique divinatory message and comments on life and history. Many of Bouabré's drawings are in The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) of Meshac Gaba. One of his emblematic drawings is saved in the

L'appartement 22 {{Short description, Collective art space in Rabat, Morocco L'appartement 22 is an independent, collaborative project founded by Abdellah Karroum and based in Rabat, Morocco. The first such space in Morocco, it has since inspired a number of arti ...

collection on the African continent: "''Une divine peinture relevée sur le corps d'une mandarine jaunie''", made by Bouabré in 1994 in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

Exhibitions

* 2022: Frédéric Bruly Bouabré: World Unbound,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York * 2013:

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

* 2012: ''Inventing the world: the artist as citizen'', Biennale Bénin, Cotonou, Bénin *2010–2011: Tate Modern, London, UK *2010: ''African Stories'', Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech *2007: ''Frédéric Bruly Bouabré'', Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK *2007: ''Why Africa?'',

Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli The Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli is an art gallery in Turin, Italy. It opened in 2002 on the top floor of the Lingotto complex (the headquarters of the Italian auto giant Fiat founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli), where a "scrigno" or 450 ...

, Turin, Italy *2006: ''100% Africa'', Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain *2005: ''Arts of Africa'', Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, France *2004–2007: ''Africa Remix'', the touring show started on 24 July 2004 at the Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf (Germany), and travelled to the Hayward Gallery in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. *2003: ''Frédéric Bruly Bouabré'', Musée Champollion, Figeac, France *2002: Documenta 11, Kassel, Germany *2001–2002: ''The Short Century'' was an exhibition held in Munich, Berlin, Chicago and New York, organised by a team headed by Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor *1996: ''Neue Kunst aus Africa'', Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germania *1995: Galerie des Cinq Continents, Musée des arts d’Afrique et d'Océanie, Paris, France *1995: ''Dialogues de Paix'', Palais des Nations, Geneve, Switzerland *1994: ''Rencontres Africaines'', the touring exhibition was shown at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, Cidade do Cabo in Sud Africa, Museum Africa in Johannesburg and in Lisbon, Portugal *1994: ''World Envisioned'', together with Alighiero Boetti, the exhibition hwas shown in DIA Center for the Arts in New York and American Center, Paris, France *1993: ''Trésor de Voyage'', Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy *1993: ''Azur'', Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas, France *1993: ''La Grande Vérité: les Astres Africains'', Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France *1993: ''Grafolies'', Biennale d’Abidjan in Abidjan, Ivory Coast *1992: ''A Visage Découvert'', Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas, France *1992: ''Oh Cet Echo!'', Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France *1992: ''Out of Africa'', Saatchi Collection, London *1992: ''L'Art dans la Cuisine'', St. Gallen, Sweden *1992: ''Resistances'', Watari-Um for Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan *1991: ''Africa Hoy/Africa Now'', the touring exhibition has shown in Centro de Arte Moderno in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Gröninger Museum in Groningen (Netherlands), Centro de arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City *1989: ''Magiciens de la Terre'', Centre Georges Pompidou and

Grande halle de la Villette The Grande halle de la Villette (originally: Grande Halle aux Boeufs; translation: "Great Hall of Cattle"), formerly a slaughterhouse and now a cultural center, is located in Paris, France. It is situated on Place de la Fontaine aux Lions within ...

, Paris, France *1989: ''Waaah! Far African Art'', Courtrai, Belgium *1986: ''L'Afrique e la Lettre'', Centre Culturel Français, Lagos, Nigeria

References

Bio from the National Museum of African Art
* L'appartement 22 Collection in Rabat and exhibitio

*Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, ''On ne compte pas les étoiles'' (Editions Bordessoules, 1989).

Galleries

Kyo Noir - Contemporary African Art InvestmentAfrican Contemporary , Contemporary African Art GalleryFrédéric Bruly Bouabré: A childlike world of goodness and colour
- *Richard Dorment

(review), '' Daily Telegraph'', 4 September 2007.

Life and career

Exhibitions

See also

References

Galleries

Further reading