Olivia Anani

Olivia Anani was born in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. She studied Asian Studies and contemporary art across three continents before beginning her career at Sotheby’s, Phillips, and Christie’s. She later joined PIASA as Co-Director of the Africa + Modern and Contemporary Art Department. As a researcher, writer, and curator, she has collaborated with the Taipei, Dakar, and Kampala Biennials, Beijing’s Zajia Lab, the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, the Centre Pompidou, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and Columbia University–Reid Hall in Paris. A member of the Board of the Amis du Palais de Tokyo since 2013, she served on the jury for the 2018 Prix des Amis, which supports emerging artists through their first major institutional exhibition.

Deeply interested in the power of the auction market to bring overlooked artists and art histories into focus, Anani has contributed to the sale of masterpieces by Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Nicolas de Staël, Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Barthélémy Toguo, and Seydou Keïta. She has also worked on loans and acquisitions for institutions including the Louvre Museum and Louvre Abu Dhabi.