100 Years of West African Portrait Photographs: New Exhibition At The Met!
- Kelly A. Abel
- Aug 27, 2015
- 2 min read
Unknown Artist (Senegal) Portrait of a Woman, ca. 1910 Glass negative 6 x 4 in (16.5 x 11.4 cm) Gift of Susan Mullin Vogel, 2015.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is housing a century's worth of breathtaking West African photography portraits from August 31, 2015 through January 3, 2016.
In and Out of the Studio: 100 Years of West African Portraits will celebrate the distinct, incomparable spectrum of beauty of people from countries such as Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The installation will include original photographic prints, postcards and negatives offering a glimpse into a world frozen in time that most are not privy to see.
Unknown Artist (Senegal) Senegalese Woman, 1910s Postcard format gelatin silver print 5 x 3 in (14 x 8.9 cm) Visual Resource Archive, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
From The Museum of Metropolitan Art's Press Statement:
“These photographers explored the possibilities of their medium developing a rich aesthetic vocabulary through revealing self-portraits, staged images against painted backdrops or open landscapes, and casual snapshots of leisurely times. Regardless of their unique place in the history of photography in West Africa—from the formality of the earlier studio poses to the theatricality of Fosso’s fantasies—the sitter’s self-assured and unabashed presence fully engages the viewer.”
Malick Sidibé (Malian, b. 1936) Self-Portrait, 1956 Gelatin silver print in original frame of reverse-painted glass, tape, cardboard, string Gift of Jack Shainman and Claude Simard, 2014.
Featured works include the artistry of Seydou Keïta of Mali, George A. G. Lutterodt of Ghana, and the Lisk-Carew Brothers of Sierra Leone. This exciting exhibit promises to lend an excellent contribution to the preservation of the authentic African historic narrative as represented through visual art.
Unknown Artist [possibly Alphonso Lisk-Carew, Sierra Leonean, 1887-1969] Bundoo Girls – Sierra Leone, ca. 1905-1925 Photomechanical reproduction published by Lisk-Carew Brothers 5 x 3 in (13.3 x 8.3 cm) Visual Resource Archives, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Unknown Artist (Senegal) Seated Man, 1930s-1940s Gelatin silver print 5 x 3 in (13.3 x 8.3 cm) Visual Resource Archive, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
Unknown Artist (Senegal) Two Girls, Indoors, ca. 1915 Gelatin silver print from glass negative, 2015 2 x 3 in (5.7 x 7.6 cm) Visual Resource Archive, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
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