Seydou Keita, 1923 - 2001, born Bamako, Mali, died Paris Search this
Medium:
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
Image: 50 x 40 cm (19 11/16 x 15 3/4 in.)
Type:
Photograph
Geography:
Mali
Date:
1949-1951, printed 1996
Label Text:
Seydou Keita opened a photography studio in Bamako, Mali, in the late 1940s. The clothes, accessories, backdrops and poses of the men, women and families he photographed provide an intriguing snapshot of the cosmopolitan society that emerged at the end of the colonial era.
After Keita's small, intimate photographs came to international attention in the early 1990s, many negatives were reprinted with the artist's permission in the larger format popular with fine arts galleries. This particular image was printed under Keita's direction in a photography studio in Paris, and it bears the artist's signature. The use of a lacey bedspread as a backdrop dates the original negative to the time of Keita's earliest studio photography (1949-51). The mother and daughter in this unnamed family wear updated Fulani-style dress-a tailored mix of local and imported cloth with traditional hairstyles and jewelry-while the father poses in a European-style uniform and pith helmet.
Description:
Black and white photograph of a man, woman and child. The man is dressed in colonial khakis with pith helmet. The woman and child are wearing more traditional ensembles made of patterned cloth. They are posed in front of a pattern backdrop with lower fringe.
Exhibition History:
African Mosaic: Celebrating a Decade of Collecting, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 19, 2010-November 13, 2013
Published References:
Maples, Amanda, Ashby Johnson, Marian, and Dumouchelle, Kevin D., 2018, Good As Gold, Washington, D.C.: NMAfA, Smithsonian, p. 35, illustrated p. 25
Content Statement:
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Image Requests:
High resolution digital images are not available for some objects. For publication quality photography and permissions, please contact the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives at https://africa.si.edu/research/eliot-elisofon-photographic-archives/
