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, 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 record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

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

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

; some also described his own visions. All the drawings are part of a larger cycle, titled '' World Knowledge''. 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 in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

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 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 script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York * 2013:

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

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* 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, 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 was 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, 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 ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'', 4 September 2007.

Life and career

Exhibitions

See also

References

Galleries

Further reading