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Malick Sidibé
The image features Malick Sidibé, a celebrated Malian photographer, at the 24th Annual ICP Infinity Awards. He is dressed in a blue traditional Malian attire known as Bazin. Holding a camera in his hands, he smiles warmly, embodying a spirit of creativity and passion for photography. The setting reflects the significance of the event, celebrating artistic achievements in the field of photography.
Sidibé at 24th Annual ICP Infinity Awards
Born1935 (1935)
Soloba, Mali
Died14 April 2016(2016-04-14) (aged 80–81)
Bamako, Mali
CitizenshipMali
Alma materInstitut National des Arts de Bamako
OccupationPhotographer
AwardsHasselblad Award
Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

Malick Sidibé (1935 – 14 April 2016)[1][2] was a Malian photographer from a Fulani (Fula) village in Soloba,[3][4] who was noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako, Mali.[1][5][6] Sidibé had a long and fruitful career as a photographer in Bamako, and was a well-known figure in his community. In 1994 he had his first exhibition outside of Mali and received much critical praise for his carefully composed portraits. Sidibé's work has since become well known and renowned on a global scale.[7] His work was the subject of a number of publications and exhibited throughout Europe and the United States. In 2007, he received a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale,[8] becoming both the first photographer[6] and the first African so recognized.[9] Other awards he has received include a Hasselblad Award for photography in 2003,[10] an International Center of Photography Infinity Award for Lifetime Achievement (2008),[11] and a World Press Photo award (2010).[12]

Sidibé's work is held in the collections of The Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC),[13] the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles,[14] and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.[15]

Life and work

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Sidibé's studio in Bamako, showing his cameras and equipment

Sidibé was born in the village of Soloba, 300 km from Bamako, in Mali. His father was a Fula stock breeder, farmer, and skilled hunter named Kolo Barry Sidibé. Malick's father had wanted him to attend school, but passed before he was able to attend at the age of 16.[16] In 1955 photographer Gérard Guillat came to the school looking for a student to decorate his studio, eventually hiring Sidibé. Guillat was impressed with his work and took him on as an apprentice. Sidibé's first tasks included calibrating equipment, and delivering prints. He soon learned more about photography as he assisted Guillat, and eventually took on his own clients. In 1957 Guillat closed his studio, and Sidibé began taking photographs of Bamako nightlife.[7][17] He specialized in documentary photography, focusing particularly on the youth culture of the Malian capital.[18] Sidibé took photographs at sport events, the beach, nightclubs, concerts, and even tagged along while the young men seduced girls.[5][9] He increasingly became noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako. In the 1970s, Sidibé turned towards the making of studio portraits. His background in drawing became useful:

As a rule, when I was working in the studio, I did a lot of the positioning. As I have a background in drawing, I was able to set up certain positions in my portraits. I didn't want my subjects to look like mummies. I would give them positions that brought something alive in them.[11]

In 1962, Sidibé opened his own studio in the Bagadadji neighborhood or Bamako.[17] Sidibé continued to take photos of the surprise parties and club gatherings of the city until 1976. He attributed ending his career in reportagé to fewer club parties, rise in availability of affordable cameras, and the growth of the auto-lab film development industry.[7] Sidibé continued to shoot black and white studio portraits, ID photos, and fix broken cameras at his Bamako studio.[7] While Sidibé was locally famous for decades, he was not introduced into the Western fine art world until 1994 when he had a chance encounter with French curator André Magnin.[7] One of the best known of Sidibé's works from that time is Nuit de Noel, Happy Club (Christmas Eve, Happy Club) (1963), depicting a smiling couple — the man in a suit, the woman in a Western party dress (but barefoot) and both dancing, presumably, to music.[18] And it was images like these that revealed how Sidibé's photographic style was inextricably linked to music. This connection is something that Sidibé had spoken about during interviews, over the years.[19]

"We were entering a new era, and people wanted to dance. Music freed us. Suddenly, young men could get close to young women, hold them in their hands. Before, it was not allowed. And everyone wanted to be photographed dancing up close."[6]

It is perhaps no surprise that other Malian artists, such as the musicians Salif Keita and Ali Farka Touré, also came to international attention in the 1990s at almost the same moment as Malian photography was being recognized.[20][21]

"Throughout the 1960s and '70s, in graphic, vigorous, black-and-white pictures, Sidibé captured the dynamism and joy of a rapidly changing West Africa. In particular, he honed in on the vernaculars of style: the brash suits, the purposefully clashing prints, the girls pairing their headdresses with their cat-eye shades, the little kids in full tribal costume and face paint, the dancers kicking off their shoes. The party, the club, the dance floor—these were his settings, the places where people came to be seen and dressed the part. From midnight till dawn, Sidibé roamed the city, party-hopping, shooting hundreds of frames every weekend."[22]

Sidibé used flash when out in the field, but only tungsten lighting in the studio. He used an Agfa 6 x 6 camera with bellows to shoot weddings and more formal events, and a Foca Sport 24 x 36 for his more candid work. He was known as a very charming person and would tell his clients jokes to put them at ease while shooting portraits.[7] The Grammy award-winning video of Janet Jackson's 1997 song "Got 'til It's Gone" is strongly indebted to the photographic style of Sidibé,[23] and the video pays tribute to a particular time (during the 1960s and '70s)[24][25] that Sidibé's pictures had helped to document. This was the time period just after the French Sudan (and then the Mali Federation) had gained Independence from France in 1960.[26] This new era (post-1960) has, subsequently, been characterized by various observers as a post-colonial (and post-apartheid) awakening of consciousness. Many of those who admire Sidibé's work believe that he somehow captured the joy and wonder of this awakening, and that it is seen in the faces, scenes, and images that he helped to illuminate.[19][27][28] More recently, Sidibé's influence can be seen directly through Inna Modja's 2015 video for her song "Tombouctou",[5][28] as it was filmed in Sidibé's photography studio.

In 2006, Tigerlily Films made a documentary entitled Dolce Vita Africana about Sidibé, filming him at work in his studio in Bamako, having a reunion with many of his friends (and former photographic subjects) from his younger days, and speaking to him about his work.[29]

Sidibé became the first African and the first photographer to be awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale in 2007. Robert Storr, the show's artistic director, said:

No African artist has done more to enhance photography's stature in the region, contribute to its history, enrich its image archive or increase our awareness of the textures and transformations of African culture in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st than Malick Sidibé.[8]

Sidibé died[24] of complications from diabetes in Bamako.[6][30] He was survived by 17 children and three wives.[30]

Publications

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Publications by Sidibé

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  • Malick Sidibé. Zurich; New York: Scalo, 1998. ISBN 9783931141936. Edited by André Magnin. With an introduction by Magnin, and essays by Sibidé ("Studio Malick"), Youssouf Doumbia, ("Ambiance totale avec Garrincha!"), Panka Dembelé ("Twist again!"), and Boubacar "Kar Kar" Traoré ("Elvis est vivant!"). Included a four-song music CD by Kar Kar.
  • Malick Sidibé, Photographe: "vues de dos" photographies. Carnets de la création, Mali. Montreal: Editions de l'oeil, 2001. ISBN 9782912415189. With a text by Amadou Chab Touré. 24 pages.
  • Malick Sidibe: Photographs: the Hasselblad Award 2003. Göteborg, Sweden: Hasselblad Center; Göttingen: Steidl, 2003. ISBN 9783882439731. With a foreword by Gunilla Knape, an essay by Manthia Diawara, "The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown", and a transcript of an interview with Sidibé by André Magnin. Published on the occasion of the exhibition Malick Sidibé: 2003 Hasselblad Award Winner held at the Hasselblad Center, Göteborg, Sweden, 2003.[31]
  • Malick Sidibé: Chemises. Göttingen: Steidl, 2007. ISBN 9783865215239. Catalog of an exhibition presented at Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam and at Musée Nicệphore Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône.[32]
  • Malick Sidibe. Wilsele, Belgium: Exhibitions International, 2008. By Foundation Zinsou. ISBN 978-9057791048.
  • Bagadadji. Saint-Brieuc, France: GwinZegal, 2008. ISBN 9782952809924. With an essay by Florian Ebner, "La scène de Bagadadji". Portraits of the inhabitants of Bagadadji, Bamako, taken between 1964 and 1976.
    • English-language version.
    • French-language version.
    • German-language version.
  • Perception. Saint-Brieuc, France: GwinZegal, 2008. ISBN 9782952809955. In French. Studio portraits made in Brittany, France, over the course of three weeks in July 2006.
  • Malick Sidibé: La Vie en Rose. Milan: Silvana, 2010. Edited and with text by Laura Incardona and Laura Serani. ISBN 978-8836617166.
  • Malick Sidibé: The Portrait of Mali (Sinetica Landscape). Milan: Skira, 2011. Edited by Laura Incardona, Laura Serani, and Sabrina Zannier. ISBN 978-8857211251. Text in English, French and Italian.
  • Malick Sidibé: Au village. Montreuil, France: Éditions de L'Œil, 2011. ISBN 978-2351371329. Text by Brigitte Ollier. Studio portraits taken in Sidibé's native village of Soloba over the course of 50 years. In French.
  • Malick Sidibé. fr:Photo Poche No. 145. Arles, France: fr:Actes Sud, 2013. ISBN 978-2-330-01229-8. With an introduction by Laura Serani.

Publications with contributions by Sidibé

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Publications about Sidibé

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  • Retrats de l'Anima: Fotografia Africana. Barcelona: La Caixa Foundation, 1997. OCLC 50666491. By Sélim Benattiam, Cristina de Borbón, and Rosa Casamada. In Catalan and English. An exhibition catalogue. With a contribution by Mounira Khemir, "De una Punta a otra de Africa. Impresionas Fotograficas".
  • The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown. Paper Series on the Arts, Culture, and Society, Paper No. 11. By Manthia Diawara. New York: Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, 2001. OCLC 47999579. About Sidibé and James Brown.[n 1]
  • Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Vol. 4, No. 2/3. New York: New York University, 2002. Included an essay by Manthia Diawara, The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown.
  • Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance and Popular Culture. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2005. Edited by Harry J. Elam, Jr., and Kennell Jackson Jr. ISBN 9780472025459. Includes a chapter by Manthia Diawara, "The 1960s in Bamako: Malick Sidibé and James Brown".

Awards

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Collections

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Sidibé's negative collection, in his studio in Bamako

Sidibé's work is held in the following public collections:

Exhibitions

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Solo exhibitions

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Group exhibitions and festivals

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Film and television appearances

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  • Malick Sidibé: portrait of the artist as a portraitist (2006). OCLC 68907552. Directed by Susan Vogel for the National Museum of Mali / Prince Street Pictures. Produced by Vogel, Samuel Sidbe, and Catherine de Clippel. Interview with Sidibé by Jean-Paul Colleyn. In French with English subtitles.
  • Dolce Vita Africana (2008, Tigerlily Films). 62 mins. Directed by Cosima Spender. Produced by Natasha Dack, Nikki Parrott, and Spender. A documentary about Sidibé, and about Malian history as told through people he photographed. In Bamanankan and French. The film was shown as part of BBC4's Storyville series in March 2008.
  • Malick Sidibé, le Partage (2013, P.O.M. Films; Éditions de L'Œil, ADAV). 52 mins. DVD and brochure. Film by Thomas Glaser, text by Gaël Teicher. ISBN 9782351371558. The film is in French with French and English subtitles, and the text is in French.

Notes

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  1. ^ The text can be read here within the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts website.

References

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  1. ^ a b Groves, Nancy (15 April 2016). "Malian photographer Malick Sidibé dies aged 80". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Disparition du photographe malien Malick Sidibé par Le Quotidien de l'Art". Le Quotidien de l'Art. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Malick Sidibe | Biography & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
  4. ^ "Malick Sidibé". The Guggenheim Museums and Foundation.
  5. ^ a b c Shakur, Fayemi (11 April 2016). "Malick Sidibé: Creative Force of African Culture". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  6. ^ a b c d Laurent, Olivier (15 April 2016). "In Memoriam: Malick Sidibé (1936 – 2016)". Time. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Touré, A. Chab (26 August 2016), "Midnight in Bamako: In search of the late Malick Sidibé and the rhythmic roots of his legendary photographs", Aperture, Issue 224.
  8. ^ a b c Van Gelder, Lawrence (11 June 2007), "Malian Photographer Honored at Biennale", The New York Times.
  9. ^ a b BBC Staff (15 April 2016). "Mali's pioneering photographer Malick Sidibe dies". BBC News.
  10. ^ a b "Previous Award Winners". Hasselblad Foundation. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "Interview with Malick Sidibé". LensCulture. 2008.
  12. ^ a b "Arts and Entertainment, first prize singles". World Press Photo. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  13. ^ a b "Malick Sidibé". The Contemporary African Art Collection. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  14. ^ a b "Femme Peul du Niger". J. Paul Getty Museum. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  15. ^ a b "Malick Sidibé: Malian, 1936–2016". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Malik Sidibé: Mali Twist Exhibition" (PDF). Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain.
  17. ^ a b Lamuniere, Michelle, Malick Sidibe, and Lia Brozga. "Ready to Wear: A conversation with Malick Sidibe", Transition 10, no. 4 (2001): 132–159.
  18. ^ a b Schwendener, Martha (27 February 2014), "The Young and the Rebellious: A Review of 'Malick Sidibé: Chemises' in Poughkeepsie", The New York Times.
  19. ^ a b "Malick Sidibe & Janet Jackson". Musings of a Gemini Girl.
  20. ^ Schwendener, Martha (8 February 2013), "Portraits of a Continent's Vitality, Past and Present", The New York Times.
  21. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (16 April 2016). "An appreciation: Malick Sidibé, 1936–2016". The Guardian.
  22. ^ Bengal, Rebecca (15 April 2016). "Remembering Malick Sidibé, Who Photographed the Look of a Changing West Africa". Vogue.
  23. ^ Crosley Coker, Hillary (15 April 2016). "Malick Sidibé, Iconic Malian Photographer, Has Died". Jezebel.
  24. ^ a b C.B. (16 April 2016). "In memoriam: Malick Sidibe's photographs captured the style and history of a newly independent Mali". The Economist.
  25. ^ a b c d e f "Malick Sidibé". M+B Photo.
  26. ^ Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: "Mali country profile" (PDF). Library of Congress Federal Research Division. January 2005.
  27. ^ "Master Photographer Malick Sidibé Dead at 80". CraveOnline.
  28. ^ a b Leaf, Aaron (15 April 2016). "Malick Sidibé's Work Will Live On After Death". Okayafrica. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016.
  29. ^ "Dolce Vita Africana". African Film Festival Inc.
  30. ^ a b Grimes, William (15 April 2016). "Malick Sidibé, Photographer Known for Social Reportage in Mali, Dies at 80". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  31. ^ Malick Sidibé : photographs. OCLC 55012477.
  32. ^ Chemises. OCLC 229995192.
  33. ^ The poetics of cloth : African textiles, recent art. WorldCat. OCLC 271451627.
  34. ^ Malian portrait photography. WorldCat. OCLC 840267063.
  35. ^ "Malick Sidibé". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  36. ^ In and Out of the Studio: Photographic Portraits from West Africa The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  37. ^ "Malick Sidibé". SFMOMA.
  38. ^ "BMA Voices: The Boxer".
  39. ^ "Malick Sidibe - Jack Shainman Gallery".
  40. ^ Permanent Collection: Untitled, c. 1974| The Studio Museum in Harlem
  41. ^ Permanent Collection: Groupe de Barbus| The Studio Museum in Harlem
  42. ^ "Nuit de Noël". International Center of Photography.
  43. ^ "Malick Sidibé". International Center of Photography.
  44. ^ "Fantastic donations of photographic art". Moderna Museet i Stockholm. 15 February 2011.
  45. ^ "Keita, Sidibé and Fosso". Moderna Museet i Stockholm.
  46. ^ "The Museum of Fine Arts Houston Collections". Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  47. ^ a b c d e f g h "Galerie du jour agnès b.: Les artistes: Malick Sidibé" (PDF). Galerie du jour agnès. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  48. ^ "Dany Keller Galerie - Archiv". danykellergalerie.de. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  49. ^ a b c d e f g "Malick Sidibé". Afronova Gallery.
  50. ^ studio., Jack Shainman gallery. Designed by StudioRadia. Web-development by Unlabeled. "Malick Sidibe / Photographs: 1960–2004 :: JACK SHAINMAN GALLERY". www.jackshainman.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  51. ^ "FIFTY ONE Fine Art Photography Gallery – Exhib. Fifty One – past". www.gallery51.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  52. ^ "musée Nicéphore Niépce – Malick Sidibé". www.museeniepce.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  53. ^ Hoare, Tristan. "L'oeil de Bamako" (PDF). 1841 Magazine. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  54. ^ "MALICK SIDIBE, MARCH 28 – APRIL 26, 2014". www.jackshainman.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  55. ^ "FIFTY ONE Fine Art Photography Gallery - Exhib. Fifty One Too - past". www.gallery51.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  56. ^ a b "Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali". Somerset House. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  57. ^ Brown, Mark (27 July 2016). "Exhibition of Malick Sidibé photography to open in London". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  58. ^ "FIFTY ONE Fine Art Photography Gallery – Exhib. Fifty One – past". www.gallery51.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  59. ^ "Photography: Inaugural Installation – MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  60. ^ "The Studio Museum in Harlem". www.studiomuseum.org. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  61. ^ "National Museum of African Art – African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection – Introduction". africa.si.edu. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  62. ^ "Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli Why Africa? La collezione Pigozzi".
  63. ^ "FIFTY ONE Fine Art Photography Gallery - Exhib. Fifty One – past". www.gallery51.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  64. ^ "Some Tribes". Christophe Guye Galerie. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  65. ^ "Exhibition Archive – Art Gallery of Hamilton". Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  66. ^ "Un rêve utile". BOZAR. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  67. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (12 November 2011). "Paris Photo 2011 – review: Grand Palais, Paris". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  68. ^ GmbH, BOROS.INTERAKTIV. "Afrika, hin und zurück - Museum Folkwang". Museum Folkwang. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  69. ^ ART, ISTANBUL MODERN, ISTANBUL MUSEUM OF MODERN. "Gaze – Changing Face of Portrait Photography – İstanbul Modern". www.istanbulmodern.org. Retrieved 5 October 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  70. ^ "Barbican - Everything Was Moving: Photography from the 60s and 70s". barbican.org.uk.
  71. ^ "Mariane Ibrahim Gallery – Back to Front, J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibe". marianeibrahim.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  72. ^ "Ici l'Afrique". www.penthes.ch. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  73. ^ "FIFTY ONE Fine Art Photography Gallery – Exhib. Fifty One – past". gallery51.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  74. ^ "Making Africa – Museo Guggenheim Bilbao". Making Africa – Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  75. ^ "VIVRE !! - Musée national de l'histoire de l'immigration". www.histoire-immigration.fr. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  76. ^ "Regarding Africa: Contemporary Art and Afro-Futurism, Tel Aviv Museum of Art". Regarding Africa: Contemporary Art and Afro-Futurism. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  77. ^ "Mariane Ibrahim Gallery – BACK STORIES". marianeibrahim.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  78. ^ "Scheda mostra". www.fmcca.it. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  79. ^ "Rhona Hoffman Gallery". siebrenv.easycgi.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  80. ^ "Through an African Lens: Sub-Saharan Photography from the Museum's Collection". The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

Further reading

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[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malick Sidibé.
  • Malick Sidibé, Icontent, Douglas Sloan Director on YouTube Video duration 6m:09s. Uploader Icontenttv, 2009. By Douglas Sloan.
  • "Malick Sidibé (Malian, born circa 1936–2016)". artnet.com. Artnet. Retrieved 5 October 2023. Malick Sidibé was a celebrated Malian photographer. Working primarily in black and white, his photographs captured lively portraits and scenes of celebration. His best-known works depict the burgeoning pop culture and nightlife of the Malian capital, prolifically documenting young people and their dress in elegantly posed studio portraits with patterned backdrops, which either match or deliberately clash with the sitters' outfits and poses.
  • Clewing, Ulrich. "Malick Sidibé: Pictures full of music". Archived from the original on 27 June 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2023. Malick Sidibé got off to a late but flying start in the international art-scene with an exhibition in Paris in 1995. Since then curators and gallery owners all round the world have been vying to show his photos.
  • "Malick Sidibé". caacart.com. Geneva: Contemporary African Art Collection (C.A.A.C.) / The Jean Pigozzi Collection of African Art. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022.
  • "Jack Shainman Gallery, Sidibé". jackshainman.com. Retrieved 5 October 2023. Malick Sidibé (b. 1935, Soloba, Mali; d. 2016, Bamako, Mali) was a photographer known for his black and white images chronicling the exuberant lives and culture—often of youth—in his native Bamako, Mali.
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