Seydou Keita: A Retrospective

Seydou Keïta’s (*ca. 1921 Mali – †2001 France) photographs eloquently portray society in Bamako during its transition from cosmopolitan French colony to independent capital. Whether photographing indi-viduals or groups, Keïta balanced a strict sense of formality with a remarkable level of intimacy with his subjects against numerous props—from backdrops and costumes, to Vespas and luxury cars.Keïta was self-taught, initially working with a Kodak Brownie received as a gift from his uncle. He worked intuitively, implementing extreme precision on each portrait. His archive of over 10,000 negatives was gradually brought to light in the early 1990s culminating with Seydou Keïta, edited by André Magnin (Scalo, 1997). This book presents an even deeper presentation of his oeuvre, including a number of previously unpublished photographs. Inventive and highly modern, his emphasis on the essential components of portrait photography—light, subject, framing—firmly establishes Keïta among the twentieth-century masters of the genre.