Senegalese President Léopold Sédar Senghor was the first art critic of French-speaking Black Africa, which started with his first publication on the matter in 1956. It utilized the ideas from Senghor's
Black nationalist movement,
Négritude (founded in the 1930s), The style that later became known as the Dakar School gained significant visibility during the
World Festival of Black Arts (French:
Festival Mondial des Arts Negres), particularly through the exhibition
Tendances et Confrontations curated by Iba N'Diaye. At the World Festival of Black Arts (also known as FESMAN or FMAN), which included participants from more than forty countries and attracted over 25,000 visitors, the festival and its preceding Colloquium on Negro Art provided an internation platform for Léopold Sédar Senghor to present ideas associated with
Négritude and his vision of modern African cultural production. The event also helped situate the Dakar School within wider transatlantic Black intellectual and artistic networks, including connections to the
Harlem Renaissance and
Francophonie Négritude writers such as
Aimé Césaire and
Alioune Diop. The National Tapestry Manufacturers in Thiès tapestry weaving facility in the city of
Thiès was founded in 1966 by Papa Ibra Tall. National Tapestry Manufacturers in Thiès was a government sponsored and supported by Senghor, and many of the Dakar School artists were involved with their work. == Style ==