Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa (MoMA)

Beginning in the late 1950s and continuing to the 1980s, the independence period in Africa was a time of prolific architectural production, during which leaders of newly independent nations sought to redefine themselves and their countries in contrast to colonial rule. Architects of Liberation: Modernism in Western Africa focuses on seven western African nations—Benin (Dahomey), Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo—and illuminates the ways in which architects adapted, adopted, or reinvented the idiom of modernism for their specific cultural, political, and economic objectives.

This landmark publication features more than two hundred illustrations, including architectural drawings and archival photographs, as well as a newly commissioned photographic portfolio by François-Xavier Gbré highlighting these stunning works of architecture. Essays on critical topics—including Africanization, Pan-Africanism, infrastructure projects, housing, and tourism—together with close studies of iconic buildings and their architects, situate the region’s architectural production within the contexts that defined it. 224 pages, 250 illustrations.