Contemporary African art rises to the occasion

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — Contemporary African art, long undervalued on the global market, broke through a psychological glass ceiling last week as patrons spent over 1.9 million euros at a South African fair.

The Joburg art fair, touted as the first of its kind on the continent, had over 6,000 visitors in three days and was declared a critical and commercial success by organiser Ross Douglas.

"We were expecting sales in the region of ten to 15 million rand, but we did a lot better then that," he told AFP on Monday, saying collectors had forked out more than 25 million rand (just over three million dollars).

The cream of new and established artists from all over the continent were on display in South Africa's economic capital Johannesburg over the weekend, in a...