Street Chic African Style: The Photography of Seydou Keïta

Whenever I travel, I research local papers to locate photography galleries. There was the time I wandered in a gallery in Soho and got to see several Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, and Josef Kouldeka prints up front. The composition and printing were so perfect that I almost cried with happiness. At the time, one of the Cartier-Bresson prints retailed for about $3,500. I was a broke college student but did conveniently have a $4,000 limit on my credit card. I couldn’t justify buying the print then. Cartier-Bresson has since died. I shudder to think how much his prints cost today.

Back to Keïta. I originally discovered Seydou Keïta from a Nigerian friend, and would later see an exhibit of his work at the Fogg Museum here in Cambridge and at the Contemporary African Art Collection in London. These pictures are from work he did in his studio in Bamako, Mali between 1943-1963. According to the Tate Modern, “Clients wanted to ‘dress up’ for their portraits and often brought precious objects or favourite items of clothing with them.” Though pictures are taken in a studio, they are dynamic and retain a street chic feel.

If you have plans to be in London, the Tate Modern has an exhibit on Seydou Keïta from now until April 2009.

Source: http://www.caacart.com/
http://www.tate.org.uk/