Sixteen original photos by Malick Sidibé and others

Fourteen original photos by Malick Sidibé, Bamako, Mali, 1935/36 - 2016, and 2 additional photos: one of them without a stamp, and the other a work by Sory, from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Respectively the penultimate and final photos in the order to the left.

Photo sizes vary between 12/13/17,5 cm x 12/15/17/17,5/18/23 cm

When I visited Malick Sidibé eight or nine years ago in his studio in Bamako, there was nothing left to old photographs from the 60s and 70s. Sidibé was sick and tired. The year before, he was at the height of his success: the golden lion of the Biennale in Venice, which led to a great breakthrough and international recognition. Since then, a "run" has not only taken place in his own time but also on those of his less gifted colleagues in Bamako and Segou.

Everything was bought up immediately by Parisian dealers and the old negatives of the 6 x 6 cameras were enlarged in the format sometimes more than1 x 1 meter. In the photo studios, Bamakos signed without end. Unlike the old originals, in which Sidibe had still removed himself on his old enlarger, the authenticity of the photographer had to be documented by his signature ... read more