Seydou Keïta
Untitled

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Artist Seydou Keïta (Malian, 1923–2001)Malian, 1923–2001

Printer Philippe Salaün(French, 1943–2020)French, 1943–2020

CultureMalian

Titles

Untitled

Date1952–1955, printed 1999

PlaceMali, Africa

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 21 1/16 × 15 in. (53.5 × 38.1 cm)
Sheet: 23 13/16 × 19 15/16 in. (60.5 × 50.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of Jean Pigozzi

Object number2005.152

Non exposé

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

Description“When people saw me with a camera around my neck, they asked me to take a photo of them. That’s how I began,” noted Seydou Keïta. From this humble beginning, Keïta would rise to prominence as Mali’s greatest portrait photographer. “Everyone passed through my studio at one time or another. Some days…there were hundreds of people,” Keïta recalled. Working with a large-format camera, he made intimate portraits, precisely framed against the brilliant patterns of his backdrops that eloquently portray the vivacity of Malian society in a time of great change.
ProvenanceJean Pigozzi, Geneva, Switzerland; given to MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Through an African Lens: Sub-Saharan Photography from the Museum's Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 27–November 8, 2020.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed in black ink, recto, lower left below image: 52p55 [?], 12, 2, 2001 Seydou Keita // SKeita
Embossed, recto: C.L.A.C. // LTD. [with circular border]
Marked in pencil, verso, lower right: P. SALAÜN 1999
Printed, verso, lower right: TIRAGE PAR PHILIPPE SALAÜN
Marked in pencil, verso, lower edge: MA/KE 211.I, 1031

Signed in ink lower left below image: Seydou Keïta / SKeïta(in script)
Marked in pencil verso lower right: P. SALAÜN 1999

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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