Souleymane Keita art book

Souleymane Keïta monograph / ISBN 9782493879028 / 186-page paperback with jacket, 8.25 x 11 inches, published in 2024 by Cécile Fakhoury / bilingual English/French edition

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The first monographic publication dedicated to Souleymane Keïta (1947-2014), a major figure in Senegalese art.

Produced by Editions Cécile Fakhoury, in close collaboration with the artist's family, this monograph focuses on the painting work of Souleymane Keïta, an exceptional artist whose life was divided between New York, Dakar and the Island of Gorée. Resulting from extensive collective research, both in the archives and in the field, as well as extensive restoration work on artworks belonging to the family collection, this book offers a precise and in-depth introduction to the work and life of Souleymane Keïta. It features over 130 reproductions of works, mainly paintings, most of them previously unpublished, from the 1970s to 2010. It is enriched by texts by specialists and those close to the artist: Demba Cissokho, Joshua Cohen, Maureen Murphy, Sylvain Sankalé and his daughter Saran Keïta. Finally, archival photographs and enlarged views of the materiality of his powerful, immersive painting further immerse us in the world of this extraordinary artist.

In 2007, Aminata Diaw, philosopher and professor at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, wrote: "Souleymane Keïta... A name, an itinerary, a style, a way of painting, a lesson in life. His work finds its strength in the uncertainty that serves as its original impulse, transforming painting into an aesthetic and existential experience. Painting becomes an encounter with life, an experience of the soul through shapes, colors, matter, emotions... a quest for the self."