Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe, two important and widely known commercial photographers from Mali, took mesmerising photographs of members of their communities during the decades before and after the country's independence from France in 1960. This book presents a range of these portraits, as well as excerpts of recent interviews with the artists and an essay placing the photographers within the context of the history of portrait photography in West Africa since its beginnings in the 1840s. In contrast to the early photographs of Africans produced by Western colonial powers, Keita and Sidibe's photographs represent the work of Africans controlling the camera to create images of African subjects for an African audience. Keita combined formulas of Western portrait photography with local aesthetics to create images that reflect both his clients' social identity and status within the community and an enthusiastic embrace of modernity. Later, as portrait conventions and societal roles became more flexible, Sidibe's subjects took a more active part in constructing the images of themselves that they wanted to convey. Africans have valued photography for its unique ability to capture a person's likeness, which, says Sidibe, was regarded as more eternal than the subjects themselves. This book is a striking collection of such likenesses. This handsome volume accompanies an exhibition at Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum from September 1 to November 25, 2001.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The catalogue of a recent Harvard University exhibition, You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keita and Malick Sidib‚ chronicles the two portrait photographers' work in Mali. Ke‹ta and Sidib‚ took countless studio portraits of Malinese people before and after the country became independent from France in 1960. Michelle LamuniŠre, a curatorial research assistant at Harvard's Fogg Museum, includes an essay on the history of West African portrait photography (with images dating back to the turn of the century) and portions of recent interviews with the two artists. The 79 images ranging from people in strictly traditional dress to friends in hip Westernized get-ups to men posed in a boxing scene are striking for their subjects' arresting gazes and poses as well as for their superior production value.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Photographs have been taken in Africa since the 1840s, but only recently have scholars begun to pay attention to the work of indigenous African photographers, who typically blend Western technology and techniques with an African perspective and aesthetic sensibility. This catalog, which accompanies an exhibition at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, focuses on commercial portraits by two Bamako, Mali, photographers, whose photos are drawn from the collection of noted African art collector Jean Pigozzi. Active in the latter half of the 20th century, Ke‹ta and Sidibe chronicle an important part of the colonial and postcolonial urban West African experience. The text consists of an excellent illustrated essay by Lamuni ere (curatorial research assistant, Fogg Art Museum) on the history of photography in Africa and, in particular, the role of African photographers; following art interviews with Keita and Sidibe. About half the catalog is devoted to fascinating portraits of members of the photographers' communities, taken from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s. Highly recommended for any library with an interest in photography or Africana. Eugene C. Burt, Seattle
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
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Unusual portraits,
By panda "panda_pandarus" (Camarillo, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe (Paperback)
I saw this exhibit at the Harvard Fogg museum. It was exceptional. The portraits were large and inventive and reminded me of a Malian version of Richard Avedon's 1985 American West show. This is a great gift book.
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