English Français Deutsch Italiano Español Русский 中国 Português 日本

FAVORITES MY CART

Untitled, 1954 by Seydou Keïta (1921-2001, Mali) Seydou Keïta | ArtsDot.com

Seydou Keïta (i)




This image represents a two-dimensional work of art, such as a drawing, painting, print, or similar creation. The copyright for this image is likely owned by either the artist who created it, the individual who commissioned the work, or their legal heirs. It is believed that the use of low-resolution images of artworks: for purposes of critical commentary on:
  • the specific work in question,
  • the artistic genre or technique employed in the artwork, or
  • the artistic school or tradition to which the artist is associated,
qualifies as fair use under copyright law.
Any other use of this image, could potentially constitute a copyright infringement.


Seydou Keïta (born c. 1921, Bamako, Mali, ded in 2001, Paris, France) is unanimously regarded today as the most famous African studio photographer of the 20th century. Discovered in the West in the early 1990s, his work, composed essentially of black and white portraits made in his studio in Bamako from 1948 to 1962, has since been exhibited in major museums and written about in numerous publications. But before his talent was recognized worldwide, Keïta was initially a “studiotiste” who was very famous in Mali and throughout West Africa, thanks to his understanding of the pose, the quality of his prints and the staging of his portraits, in which the accessories bear witness to the changes in urban Malian society during the process of decolonization with independence on the horizon.
Open full description

Seydou Keïta

Seydou Keïta was a Malian photographer known for his portraits of people and families he took at his portrait photography studio in Mali's capital, Bamako, in the 1950s. His photographs are widely acknowledged not only as a record of Malian society but also as pieces of art. Keïta was born in Bamako, Mali in 1921 and died in 2001. His photographs have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Foundation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris. In 2016, the Grand Palais in Paris held a major retrospective of his work. Keïta's work has also been the subject of several books, including 'Seydou Keïta' (2014) and 'Seydou Keïta: From Bamako to Paris' (2018).

-