FROM TUSCANY TO TESANO: SETH DEI’S LIFE OF ART

By LeRoi Coubagy

“It has been the aim of mankind ever since the amoeba crawled out of the slime to disassociate himself from his past, but only the very rare spirits achieve it by means of
music, paintings and other arts”.

Seth K. Dei of Kofi Pare is one such rare spirit. From the mid-90s, he actively supported and promoted artists and collected their works. So passionate was his drive to ensure that artists and emerging artists were encouraged to continue to produce art, regardless of the lack of patronage in the country, that he acquired a few works which were not up to standard in his collection. Artists have to be encouraged.

In this, he has affinity to the legendary Paul Durand-Ruel. Whereas Durand-Ruel, Peggy Guggenheim, Charles Saatchi and Anthony d’Orfay had a whiff of commerce surrounding their arts activities, Seth K. Dei’s patronage of the arts recall that of Lorenzo de Medici of the Tuscan city of Florence.

Seth was a founding member of the Contemporary Art Society (CAS). The Society was set up to collect the work of emerging artists and was an early supporter of artists just coming out of art colleges and schools. Membership included the late Kojo Bentsi-Enchill, Kojo Essah and Korkor Amarteifio.

CAS went further and instituted THE BARTIMEUS PRIZE, named after the modern master of the Akwapim Six fame. The Bartimeus Prize was modeled on the Turner Prize. It shortlisted four artists yearly whose works were then shown at the Art Gallery of the National Theatre and at Leasafric, Tesano. The overall first prize winner was awarded a cash prize and the remaining three were given consolation cash awards. The Bartimeus Prize was funded entirely by Seth K. Dei in collaboration with the National Theatre of Ghana.

Through his extensive contacts, Seth paved the way for Ghanaian artists to attend workshops at the famous Vermont Studio Centre, Vermont, USA. He was perhaps the only Ghanaian individual who has sponsored a travelling exhibition of Ghanaian art, “Ghana To Vermont”, a major , contemporary art, cinema, food and dance festival that was shown in nine cities in Vermont, USA.

Seth K. Dei also funded “Sketches of Ghana’ that toured Houston in 2002.

The penultimate of his patronage was the setting up of the DEI CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY ART in Tesano. The center has a modest library for research and organizes rotating exhibitions by various artists and works from his extensive collection of art.

The Dei Collection is spread between three houses, two of which are in Tesano. Accra. The third is housed in a villa chiseled out of the Akwapim scarp in Peduase. The villa recalls the Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” in Laurel Highlands, Pittsburg. The Peduase villa may not have a library like the villa I Tatti established by the art critic, polyglot and collector, Bernard Berenson in Florence. What it has will be the envy of Bernard Berenson. The Art of his time!

In the dining room is Larry Otoo’s “Tomato Sellers”. Massed on the coffee table in the living room is the most exquisite and rare collection of Lobi dolls in private hands. Kofi Setordji’s wooden colorful sculptures “Three Heads” is displayed on the floor of the living room. On the walls are works by George Hughes, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Jimoh Buraimoh and Wiz Kuduwor.

In the study is a portrait of Seth Dei by Almighty God and an adorable “Charlie Parker” by Hacajaka. The corridor leading to the bedroom has a special masters’ wall of works by Albert Bartimeus, Prof. E.K Tetteh, Ato Delaquis and Kofi Antubam. Just before you enter the bedroom, is the very rare “Christ Feeding the Birds” by Owusu Dartey. In the bedroom are works by Wiz Kuduwor, Owusu Dartey and Owusu Ankomah.

Thus completes the remarkable journey from Lorenzo de Medici’s Florence to Seth Dei’s Peduase through Tesano. If they whisper Ufizzi Galleries & I Tatti, whisper the Dei Collection.

The Dei Collection confirms what Goethe opined centuries ago:

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the soul”.

And by God, Seth K. Dei listened to music! Coltrane, Salif Keita, Miles Davis & Carl Tjader; and he saw fine paintings every day. To the very end. His life was like a verse.

His life was Art itself.