Tag Archives: Mali

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair & Malick Sidibé

1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair, Somerset House, London WC2, 6th–9th October 2016

Dansez le Twist, 1965 (c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Dansez le Twist, 1965
(c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

This year’s fair features some forty leading specialist galleries drawn from eighteen counties with a total of over a hundred and thirty artists of African origin. One special feature is an exhibition of late Malian photographer Malick Sidibé (1935/6 – 2016) – he was not sure which year he was born in.

This is the first solo exhibition of his work and although being launched at the Fair it will continue as part of the Somerset House Winter Season.

Les Retrouvailles au bord du fleuve Niger, 1974 (c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Les Retrouvailles au bord du fleuve Niger, 1974
(c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Sidibé was the right man in the right place as he was in Mali’s capital Bamako at the time of the country’s independence and he very much caught the spirit of the place though his black -and-white imagery. There are forty-five original prints from the 60s and 70s on display and they are divided into three themed areas: ‘Au Fleuve Niger / Beside the Niger River’, ‘Tiep à Bamako / Nightlife in Bamako’, and ‘Le Studio / The Studio’.

Nuit du 31 Décembre, 1969 (c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Nuit du 31 Décembre, 1969
(c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Acknowledging Sidibé’s remark that “music freed us” the exhibition will have its own soundtrack which will recall not only the nightclubs where he took many of the images but also his own studio (Studio Malick) where “often it was like a party”. He was significantly the first African artist and photographer to be awarded a Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2007.

Les jeunes bergers peulhs, 1972 (c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

Les jeunes bergers peulhs, 1972
(c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

The exhibition Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali continues until 15th January 2017.

 

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A moi seul, 1978 (c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

A moi seul, 1978
(c) Malick Sidibé. Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris

The 2016 Tribal Art London

Tribal Art London, Mall Galleries, The Mall, London SW1, 1st– 4th September 2016

Jeremy Sabine A 19th century Zulu wooden vessel carved from a single block of wood with no joins, half a metre tall

Jeremy Sabine
A 19th century Zulu wooden vessel carved from a single block of wood with no joins, half a metre tall

Here is a selection of items for sale at this year’s Tribal Art London fair which features twenty two international dealers and is the only specialist fair of its kind in the UK.

Arjmand Aziz A contemporary work interpreting the Songlines traced by women making their way to the important Western Desert Ancestral site of Munni Munni, by Marlene Young Nungurrayi, born 1971

Arjmand Aziz
A contemporary work interpreting the Songlines traced by women making their way to the important Western Desert Ancestral site of Munni Munni, by Marlene Young Nungurrayi, born 1971

 

David Malik A powerfully abstract mbulu ngulu reliquary figure of the Kota people, Gabon, West Africa

David Malik
A powerfully abstract mbulu ngulu reliquary figure of the Kota people, Gabon, West Africa

 

Kapil Jariwala A remarkable Peruvian tapestry surviving from the middle centuries of the first millennia, woven from alpaca wool and cotton, made by the people of the Chimu culture of Lambayeque, on the Northern coast of Peru

Kapil Jariwala
A remarkable Peruvian tapestry surviving from the middle centuries of the first millennia, woven from alpaca wool and cotton, made by the people of the Chimu culture of Lambayeque, on the Northern coast of Peru

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryan Reeves An early hyena mask from Bambara, Mali

Bryan Reeves
An early hyena mask from Bambara, Mali

 

Marcuson & Hall A rare sleeping mat depicting trains, carriages and people woven by the Yombe, Democratic Republic of Congo

Marcuson & Hall
A rare sleeping mat depicting trains, carriages and people woven by the Yombe, Democratic Republic of Congo

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