Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou
Beninese photographer (born 1965)
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Léonce Raphaël Agbodjélou (born 1965), is a Beninese photographer and teacher.
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965 (age 60–61) |
| Occupations | Photographer, teacher, school founder |
| Known for | photography |
| Movement | contemporary art |
| Father | Joseph Agbodjelou |
Biography
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou was born in Porto-Novo in 1965.[citation needed] He is the son of Benin photographer Joseph Agbodjelou (1912–1999).[1][2] He was trained by his father.[citation needed] They traveled together with a portable studio. They used traditional colorful fabrics as background for the people portraits they made. Leonce Agbodjelou founded the first Photography School in Benin.[3] He serves as the President of the Photographer's Association of Porto-Novo.[4]
Work
Agbodjelou's portraiture series, Citizens of Porto-Novo depicts people of Benin's capital. He is using a daylight studio and a medium format film camera for the project. His 'Musclemen' shows staged studio photograph of muscular men, which is popular theme in the West Africa.[5] The 'Egungun' project are photographs of the masqueraders, depicting divine ancestors of Yoruba-speaking people. They usually appear at funerals to guide deceased to the spirit world. They can also appear at any time to protect people from misfortunes.[6]
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
Group exhibitions
- 2013 Native Nostalgia, Museum of African Design, Johannesburg[10]
- 2013 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013, National Portrait Gallery, London[11]
- 2015 Staring Back: The Creation and Legacy of Picasso's Demoiselles d'Avignon, Fleming Museum of Art[12]
- 2015 Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, Seattle Art Museum[13]
- 2016 Disguise: Masks and Global African Art, Brooklyn Museum[14]
- 2017 Regarding Africa, Tel Aviv Museum of Art[15]
- 2017 African-Print Fashion Now!, Fowler Museum at UCLA[16]
- 2020 Through an African Lens: Sub-Saharan Photography from the Museum's Collection, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas[17]
Collections
Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou works are in public collections around the world, including Zurich Museum of Art, Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, Saatchi Collection in London, Carnegie Museum of Art, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town and Museum of Modern Art in Equatorial Guinea.[18]