Dusasa 1, 2007, by El Anatsui, who is based in Nigeria. Another of his tapestries sold for a record-breaking £541,250 last year. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
When one of Nigeria's biggest media moguls began collecting contemporary African art three decades ago, he was one of the few Africans in a niche market dominated by western connoisseurs. But as African art becomes more sought-after globally, that is rapidly changing.
"Some of the things I bought just for aesthetic pleasure years ago are now worth millions," said the wealthy businessman, who did not want to be named for fear his home could become a target for thieves.
"A lot of people on both sides of the pond are waking up to the fact you can make big money in contemporary [African] art," he added, reclining on a golden sofa in his Lagos home crammed with expensive art from across the globe.
As African economies outperform the global average, a collectors' scene is booming among emerging elites and a growing number of foreign buyers.
When Nike Davies-Okundaye began selling adire – a Nigerian traditional textile art she learned from her great-grandmother – in the 1960s, "only expats liked buying, even though our forefathers were already art lovers", she said on a walk through her gallery, which sprawls over four floors, the largest in west Africa.
Nowadays she has a global clientele and, increasingly among locals, young business people wanting to invest their money in safe assets. "Young Nigerians are now driving the art scene – they are becoming the biggest patrons of Nigerian art," she said
Growing incomes colliding with a rich history of visual arts have seen fine art sales soar in other African countries too, said Davies-Okundaye, who helped establish one of Kenya's first art galleries in the 1980s.
The boom has been most pronounced in Nigeria and South Africa,the continent's two biggest economies, which between them account for half of Africa's billionaires. Increasingly, local rather than imported artwork adorns the walls of many glitzy offices and restaurants.
"One stockbroker I know recently went and bought so much art he didn't know where to put it. He actually had to put some of the paintings on the ceilings," said Arthur Mbanefo, a prominent sponsor, visibly distressed by the collision between art and Nigerians' flair for exhibitionism.
As African nations replicate a trend witnessed by emerging countries, such as Brazil and India, over the past decade, the fever is also sweeping across international galleries and exhibitions.
Dusasa 1, 2007, by El Anatsui, who is based in Nigeria. Another of his tapestries sold for a record-breaking £541,250 last year. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian
When one of Nigeria's biggest media moguls began collecting contemporary African art three decades ago, he was one of the few Africans in a niche market dominated by western connoisseurs. But as African art becomes more sought-after globally, that is rapidly changing.
"Some of the things I bought just for aesthetic pleasure years ago are now worth millions," said the wealthy businessman, who did not want to be named for fear his home could become a target for thieves.
"A lot of people on both sides of the pond are waking up to the fact you can make big money in contemporary [African] art," he added, reclining on a golden sofa in his Lagos home crammed with expensive art from across the globe.
As African economies outperform the global average, a collectors' scene is booming among emerging elites and a growing number of foreign buyers.
When Nike Davies-Okundaye began selling adire – a Nigerian traditional textile art she learned from her great-grandmother – in the 1960s, "only expats liked buying, even though our forefathers were already art lovers", she said on a walk through her gallery, which sprawls over four floors, the largest in west Africa.
Nowadays she has a global clientele and, increasingly among locals, young business people wanting to invest their money in safe assets. "Young Nigerians are now driving the art scene – they are becoming the biggest patrons of Nigerian art," she said
Growing incomes colliding with a rich history of visual arts have seen fine art sales soar in other African countries too, said Davies-Okundaye, who helped establish one of Kenya's first art galleries in the 1980s.
The boom has been most pronounced in Nigeria and South Africa,the continent's two biggest economies, which between them account for half of Africa's billionaires. Increasingly, local rather than imported artwork adorns the walls of many glitzy offices and restaurants.
"One stockbroker I know recently went and bought so much art he didn't know where to put it. He actually had to put some of the paintings on the ceilings," said Arthur Mbanefo, a prominent sponsor, visibly distressed by the collision between art and Nigerians' flair for exhibitionism.
As African nations replicate a trend witnessed by emerging countries, such as Brazil and India, over the past decade, the fever is also sweeping across international galleries and exhibitions.
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