You Look Beautiful like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Seydou Keita and Malick Sidibe, two commercial photographers from Mali, took mesmerizing portraits in Bamako, the capital, during the period before and after the country achieved independence from France in 1960. This book presents a range of these portraits as well as excerpts from recent interviews with the artists and an essay placing their work in the context of the history of portrait photography in West Africa since its beginnings in the 1840s." These photographs are the work of Africans controlling the camera to create images of African subjects for an African audience. For both photographers the studio was a theater in which to coordinate costumes, lighting, props, and poses to help the subjects define themselves. Keita adapted the formulas of portrait photography to make unique images that reflect both his clients' social identity within the community and their enthusiastic embrace of modernity. Later, as portrait conventions and societal roles became more flexible, Sidibe's subjects took an even more active part in constructing the images they wanted to convey. In Bambara, the language widely spoken in Mali, there is an expression, i ka nye tan, which means "you look beautiful like that." Keita's and Sidibe's protraits flatter the sitters, presenting them in the best possible light.
SYNOPSIS
The catalog of an exhibition organized by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard U., on view during fall 2001. It presents work from a highly regarded commercial photography studio that operated in Mali's capital, Bamako, in the decades before and after independence from France in 1960. The warm-toned b&w portraits combine formulas of Western portrait photography with local aesthetics to create images that are both souvenirs of special moments and also symbols of wealth and the sitters' status in the community. In addition to reproducing more than 70 portraits, the catalog includes excerpts of recent interviews with the photographers and an essay placing their work within the context of the history of portrait photography in West Africa.
Annotation © Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
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 Lamuni?re, 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. (Nov.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Home
