Ousmane Sow Becomes First Black African Member of France Academy of Fine Arts

Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow was admitted on December 11 into L'Académie des Beaux-Arts de Paris [Academy of Fine Arts of Paris].  Africa-top-talents.com reports:

Une belle consécration pour ce sculpteur sénégalais connu pour ses séries de sculptures monumentales consacrées aux ethnies africaines (noubas, peuls, masaï, Zoulou). « Mon élection a d’autant plus de valeur à mes yeux que vous avez toujours eu la sagesse de ne pas instaurer de quota racial, ethnique ou religieux pour être admis parmi vous (…)  Comme mon confrère et compatriote sénégalais Léopold Sédar Senghor, élu à l’Académie française il y a trente ans, je suis africaniste. Dans cet esprit, je dédie cette cérémonie à l’Afrique toute entière, à sa diaspora, et aussi au grand homme qui vient de nous quitter, Nelson Mandela. »

This is a wonderful consecration for the Senegalese sculptor known for his series of monumental sculptures devoted to African tribes (Nuba, Fulani, Masai, Zulu). He states: “My election feels even greater to me because you [the academy] had the wisdom to never introduce a racial, ethnic or religious quota for admission  (…) As my colleague and fellow Senegalese Leopold Sédar Senghor, elected to the French Academy thirty years ago, I am Africanist. In this spirit, I dedicate this ceremony to Africa as a whole, to its diaspora and to the great man who has just left us, Nelson Mandela.”

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