Bringing Congo to the Heart of America

Artists of the Painting School of Poto-Poto

Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Preview: April 30-May 1, 11am – 6pm

May 2 - June 1, 2014

Scène de marché/Market Scene by NZIMY

The Embassy of the Republic of Congo to the United States of America is proud to announce that it will hold its first cultural month in the city of Washington, D.C., from May 2 to June 1, 2014, with the theme, Bringing Congo to the Heart of America.

As part of Bringing Congo to the Heart of America, the Embassy of the Republic of Congo will host a special exhibition of Congolese Art deriving from the Painting School of Poto-Poto in Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of Congo), which was established in 1951 and is one of the first painting schools in Sub-Saharan Africa.  The Painting School is named after one of the most famous neighborhoods of the capital and has trained internationally renowned African painters such as Marcel Goten and Remy Mongo-Etsion.  The school earned a reputation for inventing "Les Mickeys," a distinctive painting style that presents small figures with schematic and slender shapes. Currently, the Painting School of Poto-Poto has opted for a naturalistic painting style curriculum which depicts the daily lives of the rural and urban Congolese people.

Recueil d'eau/Water Collection by BILOUDJI

For more information contact Ksenia Grishkova, Director, 202.347.2787 or email info@touchstonegallery.com

Touchstone Gallery is open Wednesday through Friday 11-6 and Saturday- Sunday from 12-5.