Photo: Malick Sidibé, A la plage, 1974, Tirage argentique baryté, Papier : 50 x 60 cm, Signé et daté © Malick Sidibé Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris.
“It’s a world, someone’s face. When I capture it, I see the future of the world,” revealed the legendary Malian photographer Malick Sidibé (1936–2016). Indeed, Sidibé captured the future as it came into its own, chronicling the beauty and spirit of the people of his native land right as the country won its independence from France in 1960, after nearly a century of colonial exploitation and oppression.
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Born in the village of Soloba, Sidibé was the first member of his family to attend school. Here, the boy who began life herding animals and working the land, found himself drawn to art, becoming masterful. By high school, he was doing charcoal drawings for official events and his talents were soon recognized by the Institut National des Arts de Bamako, in the nation’s capital.
Malick Sidibé, Dansez le Twist, 1965, Papier : 120 x 120 cm, Édition illimitée courtesy Magnin-A, Paris © Malick Sidibé Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris.
In 1952, Sidibé began his formal schooling in Bamako; three years late he began an apprenticeship at with photographer Gérard Guillat-Guignard. By 1957, he became a full-time photographer and opened Studio Malick one year later. At that time, he was the youngest photographer in the city and the only one with a flash—a perfect combination for Sidibé, who began taking pictures of parties at night. Like clockwork, Sidibé would work in his studio until midnight, then hit the clubs and the bars, head back to the studio to develop the film, and hang the photos in the studio so that people could come by and choose the ones that he liked.
In the 1960s, Sidibé began taking portraits in his studio, to tremendous effect. It was an instant success as photographs were inexpensive and everyone wanted one. People would come through, fresh dressed, hair did, in the latest styles, ready for their close up. They would bring along accoutrements of status like a motorbike or a herd of livestock, flossing their possession and showing out. Sidibé captured their beauty, joie de vivre, and pride with the ease and joy of a master.
Malick Sidibé, Combat des amis avec pierres, 1976, Tirage argentique baryté, Image : 120 x 120 cm, Signé et daté © Malick Sidibé Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN Magnin-A, Paris
“To be a good photographer you need to have a talent to observe, and to know what you want. You have to choose the shapes and the movements that please you, that look beautiful. Equally, you need to be friendly, sympathique. It’s very important to be able to put people at their ease. It’s a world, someone’s face. When I capture it, I see the future of the world. I believe with my heart and soul in the power of the image, but you also have to be sociable. I’m lucky. It’s in my nature,” Sidibé explained in a 2010 interview with John Henley in The Guardian.
On April 14 of this year, Sidibé died, leaving a legacy unparalleled and an archive divine. In celebration of his life in art, the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair and Somerset House, London, in collaboration with MAGNIN-A, Paris, present Malick Sidibé: The Eye of Modern Mali, the first major solo exhibition in the UK of his work, has been extended through February 26, 2017 The exhibition features 45 original prints from the 1960s and 1970s, organized around the themes “Au Fleuve Niger / Beside the Niger River,” “Tiep à Bamako / Nightlife in Bamako,” and “Le Studio / The Studio,” and features many of Malick Sidibé’s most iconic works.
Malick Sidibé, Les Retrouvailles au bord du fleuve Niger, 1974, Tirage argentique baryté, Papier : 50 x 60 cm © Malick Sidibé Courtesy Galerie MAGNIN-A, Paris
The pleasure of the prints is seeing the eye of the master in line with his hand, for Sidibé only worked in film, and made all the prints himself. We who grew up with film photography and darkrooms used to take these things for granted, but in an increasingly digital age, where the magic of film has been replaced by the flatness of technology, and the hand of the artist can no longer be seen, Sidibé’s prints remind us of the joys of the craft. As he told Henley in The Guardian, “I stick with black and white, and film. It’s what I know. And I can do my own developing and printing. A good photographer should always do that.”
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
