'Beauté Congo' Retrospective Showcases 90 Years Of Congolese Art

All images courtesy of Fondation Cartier

Beauté Congo - 1926-2015 - Congo Kitoko is a new exhibition showcasing the history and evolution of Congolese visual art over a ninety-year span. Currently on display at Paris' Fondation Cartier, the retrospective traces the wealth of the region's artistic productions from the 1920s to present day through painting, photography, sculpture, music, film, comics and performance art.

The exhibit, curated by Andre Magnin, features over three hundred works by contemporary Congolese (and two Angolan-born) artists, including photographers Sammy Baloji, Ambroise Ngaimoko and Jean Depara, landscape artists Mega Mingiedi Tunga and Jean-Bosco Kamba, sculptors Bodys Isek Kingelez and Rigobert Nimi, and "popular painters" Moke, Chéri Samba,JP Mika, and Chéri Chérin among others.

Beauté Congo also delves into the history of the DRC's popular music with an audiovisual excursion through the "golden age of Congolese rumba" during the '60s and '70s. Visitors will be able to experience the sounds of pioneering soukous artists such as Tabu Ley Rochereau, Papa Wemba,Franco Luambo and his OK Jazzorchestra, and the "Queen of Congolese rumba," M'bilia Bel, alongside specific works on display. A never-before-seen music documentary on Kinshasa's music scene in the sixties, titled Ndule Ya Kala, will also be screening during the exhibit.

Click through the gallery above for a preview of works on display in the retrospective.

Beauté Congo - 1926-2015 - Congo Kitoko is on view at Fondation Cartier in Paris through November 15th.