About

Ernest Mancoba was born and raised a black man under the South African apartheid system. In 1938 he moved to Paris to be able to study and, as he later wrote in a text for the Danish artist Ejler Bille’s 90th birthday, to work, and especially think, freely as an artist. In Paris, Mancoba met with the Danish artists’ colony and soon joined the CoBrA circle. In 1942, he married the Danish artist, Sonja Ferlov Mancoba. They both showed at Høstudstillingen in Copenhagen in 1948 and 1949. Ernest Mancoba’s work represents a unique synthesis of modern European art and African spirit. His goal was to bring to European art his deep understanding of African culture, represented by the frequently appearing totems in his drawings and paintings that reflect the ubuntu philosophy he so often referred to: A human is a human by and for other people. After the end of apartheid, Mancoba was honoured with large retrospectives at the National Gallery in Cape Town and the Museum of Modern Art in Johannesburg.

In recent years there has been a growing interest in Mancoba’s work. He was included in the 14th edition of Documenta in 2017 and in 2019 Centre Pompidou in Paris presented a solo exhibition with Mancoba.

His work is found in museum collections such as Tate, London; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum Jorn, Silkeborg.

For enquiries regarding available works by the artist, please contact cph@mikaelandersen.com

Estate Ferlov Mancoba website