CYPRIEN TOKOUDAGBA

at Wouters Gallery, Brussels

February 1 - March 22, 2025

opening Saturday February 1, 5-8pm

"When I was young, I was sent to see a voodoo priest, a priest of initiation. Once you’re there, there’s no turning back. We learned to do magic, use the power of words, create effective spells and the secrets of plants. In voodoo, each family of initiates prays to one or more gods. In the days of slavery, everyone travelled with their voodoo gods. They were the only ones capable of transmitting you strength." (Africa Remix catalogue, 2005)

Cyprien Tokoudagba (1939–2012) was a visionary Beninese artist who created paintings, sculptures, and mural decorations, deeply intertwined with the cultural and spiritual traditions of his homeland. Born in Abomey, Benin, into an artisan family, Tokoudagba’s path as an artist emerged early, shaped by his innate talent for drawing and a fascination with the rich visual language of Vodun (Voodoo). His formal education ended after primary school, but his artistic journey was profoundly influenced by his environment and the spiritual practices that pervaded his life.

In the early years of his career, Tokoudagba focused on decorating the walls of Vodun temples, often within his own family compound. These early murals were not only spiritual expressions but also cultural landmarks, depicting the deities and symbols central to Vodun worship. His mastery of symbolic and geometric figures became a hallmark of his style, blending the sacred with the every- day. The wall paintings depicted Vodun divinities, historical scenes, and the power dynamics of the Dahomey kings, illustrating the deep connections between religion, politics, and the physical world.

Tokoudagba’s work expanded beyond Abomey, and he was soon sought after by Vodun priests to decorate temples across Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria. These commissions helped solidify his reputation as a master of spiritual and religious art, leading to a role as the restorer at the National Museum of Abomey in 1987. Here, he was tasked with replicating bas-reliefs that told the stories of Dahomey’s kings, providing him with further immersion into the region’s storied past and artistic traditions. The influence of Benin’s royal history—its kings and the symbolism that accompanied them—remained a central theme throughout his work.

In 1989, Tokoudagba’s work garnered international attention when it was featured in the landmark “Magiciens de la Terre” exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. This exhibition, which introduced non-Western artists to European audiences, proved to be a turning point in his career. Encouraged by André Magnin, a prominent art dealer and curator, specialized in contemporary African art, Tokoudagba began experimenting with canvas painting, transitioning from murals and sculpture to an art form that would reach global collectors and audiences. This shift was not merely a technical change; it marked a deepening of Tokoudagba’s engagement with the symbols of his culture, incorporating the visual language of the Dahomey kings, Vodun deities, and other cultural motifs into his work on a grander scale.

Tokoudagba’s canvas paintings are often described as intricate rebuses—combinations of symbolic figures, objects, and signs that create a visual language both familiar and enigmatic. His canvases evoked the emblems of the kings of Abomey, such as the ram that represented the thunder god Hébiosso, or the fish associated with King Béhanzin, a ruler whose wrath was said to summon destructive waves. These symbols, drawn from both the spiritual and the historical realms, were interwoven with images of nature, human figures, and divine forces, creating compositions that invited contemplation of Benin’s complex past and its enduring spiritual presence. In addition to his paintings, Tokoudagba continued to work in sculpture, adapting traditional Beninese techniques to modern materials. His sculptures, often anthropomorphic and monumental, were made from concrete, a modern substitute for more traditional materials. The statues represented Vodun divinities and were typically organized around Legba, the central figure in the Vodun pantheon. Tokoudagba’s sculptures, like his paintings, were deeply embedded in the religious and political landscapes of Benin, acting as both cultural symbols and spiritual representations.

Despite his growing recognition abroad, Tokoudagba remained deeply connected to his roots in Abomey. In 2006, the Fondation Zinsou in Cotonou held an exhibition dedicated to his work, further raising his profile within Benin. The exhibition, entitled “Dahomey, Kings and Gods,” showcased sixty-four paintings, ten sculptures, and even a temple built by the artist himself—a testament to his belief that his work was not merely artistic but sacred. His artistic output was seen as a modern interpretation of Dahomey’s royal and spiritual history, a bridge between the past and the future.

Throughout his life, Tokoudagba was conscious of his role as a cultural custodian. He once remarked that he believed he was the only person capable of performing the tasks assigned to him by the divine. His home became a living museum, a constantly evolving space where his art was displayed and experienced in the same way it would have been in the Vodun temples he had decorated. His legacy is not confined to the walls of the temples or the canvases he painted; it is also embodied in the cultural and spiritual connections he fostered throughout his career.

Tokoudagba’s work has been exhibited in many national and international exhibitions, including the art biennials in Sydney, Sao Paolo, Dakar and Moscow as well as at the Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Tate (Liverpool), the Hayward Gallery (London), the Mori and Tobu Museums of Art (Tokyo), the Smith- sonian (Washington, DC) and The Great Animal Orchestra exhibition at Fondation Cartier (Paris). His work will also be shown in the upcoming exhibition When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration of Painting at Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR) in Brussels, opening in February 2025. The exhibition, curated by Koyo Kouoh, Executive Director and Chief Curator of Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town and the newly appointed curator of the Venice Biennale 2026, was already shown at the Kunstmuseum Basel in 2024 as well as the Zeitz MOCAA in 2023.

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'Cyprien Tokoudagba self-taught drawing and cement sculpture before being noticed for his decorating skills. Immersed in voodoo (vodun) and the deity of water Tôhôssou, he was sought after by voodoo priests to adorn temples in Benin, Togo, Ghana and Nigeria. In 1987, he was named as the conservator of the Museum of Abomey. He was quickly discovered by André Magnin and then by the European public after exhibiting in Les Magiciens de la Terre (1989) at the Centre Georges Pompidou, and eventually developed his practice into painting on canvas to enter the art market.' (source: KADIST Foundation)