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Williams
College Museum of Art Presents "You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs
of Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé"
June 28-August 31, 2003 at the Williams College Museum of Art
Williamstown, MA—Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents You
Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keïta and
Malick Sidibé. The exhibition will highlight the work of Keïta
and Sidibé, commercial photographers who worked in Bamako, Mali, from
the 1940s to the 1970s. Since the early 1990s, they have received international
recognition for their remarkable and engaging portraits of members of their
local community. The exhibition will be open June 28-August 31, 2003.
"The black-and-white photographs in this show are absolutely stunning
and riveting,"says Director Linda Shearer. "You can’t help
but be affected by their bold visual impact and drawn in by their compelling
subjects. I am delighted that our visitors this summer will have the opportunity
to experience this unique expression of contemporary African art."
Creative Adaptation of Conventional Photography
The title of this exhibition comes from a favorite expression in Bambara,
the language widely spoken in Mali. “You look beautiful like that” reflects
the photographers’ goal of making their subjects look good. The exhibition,
organized by the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, features 72 black-and-white
images, the bulk of which are modern enlargements made from the photographers’ original
negatives. Fourteen of the pieces are postcards and portraits from the early
part of the 20th century. These images show the portrait conventions used by
early European and African photographers in West Africa and provide a context
for the development of Keïta’s and Sidibé’s work.
Commercial portrait photography first came to Mali in the 1930s, as it did
to much of the French West African interior. Keïta (born ca. 1921) was
one of the first African photographers to work in Bamako, beginning in the
1940s. Although connected to conventions of studio portraiture, his mesmerizing
portraits convey a unique expressive style that both confirms his clients’ status
within the community and reflects their desire to be seen as cosmopolitan.
Sidibé (born ca. 1935) adapted that expressive style for a new generation.
As portrait conventions and societal roles became more flexible in the 1960s
and 1970s, the subjects of his photographs took a more active, often theatrical,
role in constructing their self-images. Although the names and professions
of many of the sitters have been lost, their identities, aspirations, and fantasies
are communicated through clothing, accessories, props, and poses. Together,
the resulting body of work forms a remarkable social document and unique record
of a community undergoing considerable social change.
Curator to Give a Gallery Talk
You Look Beautiful Like That: The Portrait Photographs of Seydou Keïta
and Malick Sidibé has been organized by Michelle Lamunière at
the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. Lamunière will give a gallery
talk on Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 3 p.m. A 116-page catalogue published
by the Harvard University Art Museums and distributed by Yale University Press
accompanies the exhibition.
Publicity Images Available
Several of the portraits are available for use. Publicity images for You Look
Beautiful Like That and other exhibitions exhibitions can be found at www.wcma.org/press.
The Williams College Museum of Art is open Tuesday through Saturday, from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the museum
is wheelchair accessible.
Contact: Jonathan Cannon, Public Relations Coordinator
413.597.3178; WCMA@williams.edu
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