Ten Distinguished Artists honoured by Manhyia Palace Museum, UNESCO

The Manhyia Palace Museum, in conjunction with the UNESCO Representative in Ghana, last Friday honoured ten distinguished artists in Kumasi, at the 2025 Inaugural Artist Laureates dubbed – Our Old Masters.

The awards were in recognition of their lifetime influence on African art practice and history.

They are (painters) founder of the Artists Alliance Gallery in Accra and former Dean of the College of Art at the Kumasi Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Ablade Glover; the last Dean of the College before it was re-named College of Art and Built Environment, Professor Ato Delaquis; as well as the Metallurgy artist and one of Time Magazine’s 2023 100 Most Influential People, who was also a former Professor and Head of Fine and Applied Arts Department of the University of Nsukka in Nigeria, El Anatsui.

The others are innovator and sculptor Kwatei Nee-Owoo of Touch of Bronze; the gallerist Frances Ademola of The Loom; the folklore princess, painter, collector and author Peggy Appiah; the public artist Kwame Akoto, founder of the Sirigu Women Organization for Pottery and Art; Melanie Kassie, the Manhyia Palace royal artist (Buramhene of 34 years experience); Nana Poku Amponsah Dwumfuor of Nsuoase and the Ghanatta College of Art and Design in Accra.

The awardees received the maiden Asantehene Art Awards to herald a ten-year project to recognise industrial leaders in the country and to inspire a new generation of practitioners including in the digital arts.

The event was witnessed by policy makers and art patrons from other African countries, including an official delegation from the Seychelles Islands, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie and the European Union Ambassador to Ghana H.E. Irchad Razaaly, among others.

The Director of the Manhyia Palace Museum, Mr. Ivor Agyeman-Duah explained that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II’s motivation for the awards followed the return of looted objects to Kumasi last year, after the 1874 and 1897 Anglo-Ashanti wars.

The UNESCO Representative in Ghana, Mr. Edmond Moukala, hinted of mobilisation of an endowment fund locally and externally for which a consultant will ensure the sustainability of the Award for Ghanaians and other Africans.

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