Word: keã
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Ke??ta’s rectangular portraits offer intimate, insightful glances into their subjects. A 1952-55 photograph, “Untitled,” taken of a middle-aged man wearing dark glasses and a bow-tie depicts an affecting sense of gravity. The dignified, serious gaze of the sitter shows a quiet, restrained pride. Another Ke??ta portrait, also untitled and taken in 1959, shows a similarly grave young girl, her arms swung casually over a straight-backed chair. The girl’s elaborate white dress and beads provide a stark contrast to her frank...
...Young Arab Woman from Timbuktu,” showing a photograph of two topless women reclining in the pose of an odalisque. The photograph was taken by Francois-Edmund Fortier in 1905, and is quite obviously an example of a European conceit of the exotic. However, both Ke??ta and Sidibé play with the idea of the odalisque, providing their own (less sexualized) interpretations of the concept in 1959 and 1969, respectively...
Since Sidibé and Ke??ta are both commercial photographers, the use of props assumes a central role in their works. The props—which range from goats to radios, alarm clocks and scooters—are usually used as signs of affluence and prosperity. Such props have precedent, as umbrellas—usually seen as a symbol of European pragmatism—can be seen in some of the 14 early postcards on display. The most poignant of these images is Sidibé’s 1972 “Les jeunes berges Peuhls...
...African royalty. Other portraits show the subjects posing on stationary scooters, such as Sidibé’s 1962 “Toute la famille en moto,” or “Whole Family on a Motorcycle” and an untitled print from 1959 by Ke?...
While this exhibit does a laudable job in presenting work from African artists, at the end of the exhibit one is still left with a feeling that more is possible. While Ke??ta and Sidibé’s works are thought-provoking and visually stimulating, they remain the professional portraits of commercial photographers. The question that one is left with is whether there are any artists in Africa that work for purely creative reasons...