This painting depicts a festival, or durbar, held annually in Ghana to celebrate the passage of the seasons and the harvest. The cyclical passage of the seasons is echoed in the swaying rhythms of the singing and dancing women. It is based on a series of drawings John Biggers made while in the Ghana region of West Africa in 1957.

During the 1940s, Biggers forged a new painting style that was rooted both in the Mexican mural movement and in the 1930s murals commissioned by the U.S. government as part of the Federal Arts Project. Biggers arrived in Houston in 1949 to head the art department at the newly opened Texas Southern University. Embracing mural painting as a means of expressing his heritage, he became the region´s most eloquent chronicler of the changing identity of African Americans. In 1957 Biggers was a pioneer in traveling to Africa to learn more about his cultural roots. Out of his experiences he developed a unique synthesis of African, European, and American art that influenced numerous younger artists.
– MFA Houston

SKU: 6607
Creator: John Anansa Thomas Biggers
Date: 1959-63
Original Medium: Tempera and acrylic on canvas
Original Size: 38 3/8 x 98 in.
Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Art © Estate of John Biggers/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY