Faié Afrikan Art Gallery Presents: “Watercolors” by Emmanuel Owusu Dartey 1991-1993

Artist Discussion

August 20, 2021

As we continue to live our days in partial lockdown it’s easy to imagine a getaway by the sea.  To see boats gently bobbing in the ocean, and to smell the saltwater as it laps against the shore is at once both mesmerizing and tranquil.  Emmanuel Owusu Dartey’s watercolor paintings can transport you to such a place.  The renowned Ghanaian artist was the head of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ashanti, Ghana.  He died in August 2018.

“ Roof Tops”

 Similar to his American counterpart, Lois Mailou Jones, who painted watercolor sketches of her beloved Martha’s Vineyard, Dartey’s paintings presented unobstructed views of the seaside community of his birth and market scenes embodying the ebb and flow of rural life.  His work is said to be both ‘stubbornly elusive and transparent' at the same time.

Born in 1927 in Mamfe, Akwapim, Dartey was a member of the Akwapim Six one of the earliest art societies in Ghana.  The collective was led by Dr. Oku Ampofo, a medical practitioner with a deep interest in art. The school was known at that time as the Kumasi College of Technology (KCT) and grew out of King Asantehene Agyeman Prempeh's I plans to establish a university in Kumasi as part of his drive towards modernization of his Ashanti kingdom.

Just as with any accomplished watercolorist, Dartey was an improvisationalist whose work, created in the 90s, is still evocative and striking.  Literally his work captures the life and times of those living in the coastal city, and represent, literally, the artist's fleeting thoughts on paper.

Artists are often times closely tied to those who collect their work. The same can be said for Dartey. His highly sought after works were collected by businessman Seth Dei, owner of Leasafric, the agricultural processing company he started in 1993. Dei, often referenced as the largest collector of contemporary art in the country, founded the Dei Collection of Modern and Contemporary Ghanaian Art in Accra. In September 2018, he displayed original works of Dartey and his contemporaries at the Residence of the British High Commissioner in Accra. Select works from his collection were offered for auction at Bonhams’ Africa Now Sale at New Bond Street, London a month later

“Two Large Fish