ADA - 1994

136 x 207 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Agotonou 1 - 2008

121 x 170 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Ague - 1996

143 x 238 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Daguessou - 1992

150 x 246 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Damimi - 1994

140 x 211 cm

Dan Awolo - 1997

147 x 249 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Gbim-Coli et Couteau du Roi Kpingla - 1990

180 x 145 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Gononfohoue - 1995

150 x 230 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Goundo - 1995

154 x 228 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Guedevi (Royal City of Abomey) - 1997

149.5 x 247 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Ounguede/Le pacte de Sang-The Blood Pact - 1994

209 x 136 cm

Segbolissa - 1994

137 x 201 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Symbols and attributes of Tohossou Voodoo (Symboles et attributs du Voudoun Tohossou) - 1990

149 x 194 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Untitled - 1992

134 x 246 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Untitled - 1992

140 x 266 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Vodoun Agotonon Water Diety - 2000

158.5 x 235 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Vodoun Dangbe - 1995

181 x 255 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Woudjiwoudjigbe - 1995

181 x 256 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Zangan - 1994

146 x 217 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Zomandonou Ininflamable-Uninflammable - 1994

188 x 148 cm
Acrylic on canvas

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Cyprien Tokoudagba (1939 - 2012) was a sculptor and painter from Abomey, Benin.

He started to work as a restorer for the Abomey Museum in 1987, when he was hired to replicate the original bas-reliefs that told many of Dahomey's legends and stories while celebrating the individual kings for the new King Glelé royal palace façade, among the Royal Palaces of Abomey reconstructed by the government of Benin.

In contact with the very rich traditions of Benin painting, a country that was one of the most prominent cultural cradles of the African continent, and was chopped up by colonial boundaries, Cipryen Tokoudagba made his name as the master painter of vodoo temples in Benin, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.

From the most modest (a single wall painting, Vodun divinity, or domestic or regional fetish...) to the most elaborate. These wall paintings are made up of the symbolic figureheads of political and especially religious power, and are often a confusion of both, as well as the geometrical cultural signs on the walls of the place of worship. The sculptures borrow from the traditions of Beninese sculpture, which is often anthropomorphic and very large. Concrete, a modern substitute for traditional materials, is worked on when it is still boxed, then carved before it is completely dry, and finally painted. These statues have the faces of Vodun divinities, of which Legba is the central figure.

Without abandoning the wall paintings that he is commissioned, Cyprien Tokoudagba undertook 1989 some large canvasses in which he combined, taking great liberties, the emblems of the kings of Abomey, symbols of the divinities (Earth, Fire, Water, Air) and various objects related to his culture. The combination of all these faces, objects and signs make his paintings look like a strange rebus.

Also in 1989, Cyprien left Benin for the first time to exhibit at “Magiciens de la Terre” in Paris, France. Tokoudagba's work was exhibited at the "Ouidah '92" festival, which celebrated Vodun art from Benin and the African Diaspora in Ouidah, Benin in February 1993.

His works have also been exhibited in the following museums: Smithsonian institution - National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; Musée Dapper, Paris, France; Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Germany; Hayward Gallery, London, Englands; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; São Paulo Biennale, Brasil.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2018

Afriques. Artistes d’hier et d’aujourd’hui ; Fondation Clément, Martinique, France

2016

The Great Animal Orchestra, Fondation Cartier Paris, France

2015

Les Diables et les Dieux - Château de TANLAY, France

2012/2013

Nov 8 - Jan 13 2013

Biennale Bénin 2012, Inventing the World : The Artist as Citizen

2010

Oct 8 - Oct 25 2010

African Stories

Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech

2006

Dahomey, rois et dieux, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin

2005

29 Jan – 8 May

African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Houston - USA

2004

Africa Remix

Art contemporain d’un continent

24 July 2004 – 7 Nov 2004

Museum Kunst Palast

Düsseldorf - Germany

10 Feb 2005 – 17 April 2005

Hayward Gallery

London – England

25 May 2005 – 8 Aug 2005

Centre Georges Pompidou

Paris – France

27 May – 30 August 2006

Mori Art Museum

Tokyo

24 June – 30 Sept 2007

Johannesburg Art Gallery

2003

13/02 – 28/03

Transvangarde: Contemporary Art from Around the Planet

Kulturbrauerei

Berlin – Germany

2001

17/02 – 30/03

Anima Tribale, Corpo Metropolitano : Arte africana contemporanea

Tribal Soul, Metropolitan Body : Contemporary African art

Galleria Spazia

Bologna - Italy

2000 - 2001

16/11/00 – 27/01/01

Rendering Visible : Contemporary Art from the Republic of Benin

October Gallery

London - England

1998

24/04 – 30/04

Dak’Art 98

Dakar Biennale (3)

Dakar Senegal

1998

Bénin/Bénin tussen gisteren/morgen

Van Reekum Museum

Apeldoorm Galerie 20x2.

Arnhem, Hollande.

1998

11/09 – 24/11

Africa Africa Vibrant New Art from a Dynamic Continent

Tobu Museum of Art.

Tokyo, Japon.

1997

8+1

Centre Culturel Français

Cotonou, Bénin.

1997

Lumière Noire

Château de Tanlay

Centre d’Art cotemporain

Tanlay, France.

1996

05/10 – 08/12

Biennale de Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo, Brésil.

1996

09/03 – 05/05

Neue Kunst Aus Afrika

Im Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt.

Berlin, Allemagne.

1995-96

Rencontres Africaines

(exposition itinérante de l'Institut du Monde Arabe ; exposition réduite.)

Sommet francophone

Cotonou, Benin

Centre Culturel Français

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Centre Culturel Français

Abidjan, Côte-d'Ivoire

Centre Culturel Français

Casablanca, Maroc

Maison des Arts

Laon, France

1995

21/09 – 05/11

Big City

Serpentine Gallery.

Londres, Grande-Bretagne.

1995

Vital : three contemporary african artists

Tate Gallery.

Liverpool, Grande-Bretagne.

1994

06/04 – 15/08

Rencontres Africaines

Institut du Monde Arabe

Paris, France.

1994

Communauté Européenne

Cotonou, Bénin.

1993

Ouidah 92

Ouidah, Benin.

1993

15/12 – 14/03

The Boundary Rider

Biennale de Sydney

Sydney, Australie.

1993

25/06 – 25/09

La Grande Vérité, les Astres Africains

Musée des Beaux arts

Nantes. France.

1992

Oct/Dec

Out of Africa

Saatchi Collection.

Londres, U.K.

1991 - 1992

Africa Hoy, Africa Now

Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo

Mexico D.F. - Mexico

Groningen Museum

Groningen - Netherlands

Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – Spain

1991

06/07 – 04/08

Ny Afrikans Billed-Kunst

Rundetarn.

Copenhaguen, Denmark.

1989

18/05/89 – 14/08/89

Magiciens de la Terre

Centre Georges Pompidou,

Grande Halle de la Villette,

Musée national d’Art moderne

Paris - France

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1995

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Ifa-Galerie

Bonn - Germany

Allemagneifa-Galerie

Stuttgart, Germany

1995

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Musée du Cloître - Peuple et Culture

Tulle, France

1991

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Centre Culturel Français

Cotonou. Bénin

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2005

Africa Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection

Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell in association with the MFAH.

2004

Africa Remix

Exhibition catalogue. Published bt Hatje Cantz Verlag.

2001

Anima Tribale, Corpo Metropolitano

Exhibition catalogue. Tribal Soul, Metropolitan Body.

Arte africana contemporanea.

L’Artiere edizionitalia.

2001

Rendering Visible : Contemporary Art from the Republic of Benin

Exhibition catalogue. October Gallery, London.

1998

Cimaise : Special issue, n° 253

Served as exhibition catalogue for Dakar Biennal.

1998

Visual Arts and Culture.

An International Journal of Contemporary Art.

African Art. World, Frontier, Territory by André Magnin.

Texte in English, available in French.

1998

Africa Africa

Vibrant New Art from a Dynamic Continent. Tobu Museum. Tokyo, Japon.

1997

Lumière Noire

Catalogue d’exposition, Centre d’Art de Tanlay.

1996

Vaudou

Henning Christoph & Hans Oberlander. Tachen, Köln

1996

Neue Kunst Aus Afrika

Catalogue d’exposition.

Im Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt.

Berlin, Allemagne.

1996

Universalis

23. Bienal Internacional Sao Paulo.

Livre-Catalogue d’exposition. Fundaçao Bienal de Sao Paulo.

1996

Contemporary Art of Africa.

Cyprien Tokoudagba, texte en anglais de Jacques Soulillou, p.40-43.

Edited by André Magnin & Jacques Soulillou. Published Harry N. Abraams,

New-York.

1996

Cyprien Tokoudagba

Exhibition catalogue: Iris Lenz, Monkia Winkler, André Magnin et al.

1996

Arts & the Islamic World 27-28

Nesbitt, Judith, “Africa 95: Three Artists at the Tate Liverpool,”

1995

Vital Three Contemporary African Artists

Catalogue d’exposition.

The Link between Earth and Sky. Tate Gallery, Liverpool.

1994

Rencontres Africaines.

Catalogue d’exposition.

Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.

1994

Revue Noire, March-April-May, 1994, pg 16-7

1993

La Grande Vérité, les Astres Africains.

Catalogue d’exposition.

Musée des Beaux arts de Nantes. France.

1993

Biennale de Sydney.

Catalogue d’exposition.

1992

Out of Africa.

Catalogue d’exposition.

The Jean Pigozzi Contemporary Art Collection @ the Saatchi Collection, Londres.

1991

Africa Hoy. Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno.

Catalogue d’exposition. Cyprien Tokoudagba p.143-149.

Las palmas, Gran Canaria.

1991

Ny Afrikansk Billedkunst.

Catalogue d’exposition.

Rundetarn. -Copenhague, Danemark.

1989

Magiciens de la terre

Livre-catalogue d’exposition. Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris.