Senegalese artist Iba N'Diaye was associated with the Parisian Groupe de la Ruche in the 1960s, a gathering of young painters who rebelled against the prevailing abstract sensibility. It is, in fact in the sculptural exploration of the figure, particularly the treatment of the head, for which he is known. As a teacher at the Ecole nationale des beaux arts in Senegal, N'Diaye insisted that his students rely firmly upon their ability to draw before painting. The artist himself is thus a visual diarist, often sketching renderings of traditional sculptures from the Musee de l'Homme collection.
Description:
Ink on paper with the face, head and neck of a human-like figure in shades of black, gray and white. Light appears to fall on the face from the upper right, darkening the neck, chin and lower left cheek of the face. The mouth is open and round, the front of the nose is darkened, the eyes are only outlined by faint, circular pencil lines and "hair" emerges from the head, from ear to ear, in heavy, triangular projections.
Provenance:
Charlton and Sylvia Williams, Washington, D.C., ca. 1987 to 1996
Charlton Williams, Washington, D.C., 1996 to 2002.
Exhibition History:
Insights, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., February 27 to November 28, 2004
Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., October 18, 2002-January 5, 2003
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