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Papa Ibra Tall Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1935 - d. 2015

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  • PAPA IBRA TALL (1935-2015) PRELIMINARY PROJECT FOR
    Mar. 22, 2025

    PAPA IBRA TALL (1935-2015) PRELIMINARY PROJECT FOR

    Est: €2,000 - €4,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015) Preliminary project for the tapestry "Njaay" or "Féerie de la brousse "Gouache on black paper, circa 1965. A striking gouache on black paper, this preliminary project for the tapestry "Njaay" or "Féerie de la brousse", circa 1965, features vibrant hues that differ slightly from those of the final work. Provenance; Brussels private collection "Njaay" evokes Lat Dior Ngoné Latyr Diop, a historical figure from Senegal, belonging to the "Njaay" (or "Diop") lineage, which resisted French colonization in the XIXᵉ century. Lat Dior (1842-1886) is an emblematic figure of resistance against French colonization in Senegal. He was Damël du Cayor (title of the king of this kingdom) and led several battles against the colonial administration, notably against the establishment of the Dakar-Saint-Louis railroad, which threatened Cayor's autonomy. Lat Dior belonged to the Njaay line through his mother, which is significant in Wolof culture, where maternal descent plays a key role in nobility and the transmission of power. His full name was Lat Dior Ngoné Latyr Diop, Diop being his father's patronymic, and Njaay that of his maternal line. In Senegalese tradition, being a Njaay often meant belonging to a noble, influential and warlike family. This lineage produced several chiefs and kings in Cayor. That's why, when you mention "Njaay", it immediately brings to mind Lat Dior and his legacy. Papa Ibra Tall, a committed Senegalese artist Born in 1935 in Tivaouane (Senegal), Papa Ibra Tall began his artistic training at the École Spéciale d'Architecture and the Beaux-Arts de Paris in 1955. He collaborated with publisher Alioune Diop to illustrate the covers of Présence Africaine books, and discovered the Negritude movement and black American jazz in the French capital. In 1959, he organized an exhibition of black artists living in Europe for the 2ᵉ Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Rome. The following year, during a study trip to the United States, he met jazzman John Coltrane and activist Malcolm X. After Senegal's independence in 1960, he returned home for good and became head of the Section de Recherches Plastiques Nègres. In 1962-1963, he specialized in ceramics, screen printing and tapestry at the École des Métiers d'Art de Sèvres (France). This apprenticeship led him to excel in the art of tapestry, a field he developed within the Manufacture Nationale de Tapisserie, created in 1966 at the instigation of President Léopold Sédar Senghor. At the same time, he played a key role in the Ministry of Culture between 1975 and 1983, before becoming General Manager of Manufactures Sénégalaises des Arts Décoratifs in 1989. His artistic influence extends far beyond Senegal. He takes part in major events, including: - The 8ᵉ Biennale des Arts de São Paulo (Brazil, 1965), - The 1st Festival Mondial des Arts Nègres (Dakar, 1966), - The 1st Festival Panafricain d'Alger (1969), - The 1st Salon des Artistes Plasticiens Sénégalais at the Musée Dynamique in Dakar (1973), - Colloquium "Art Nègre et Civilisation de l'Universel" (Dakar, 1972), - The World Congress of the International Society for Education Through Art (Adelaide, Australia, 1978). Between 1974 and 1991, his work appeared in numerous traveling exhibitions of contemporary Senegalese art throughout Europe, Asia and America. He also had several solo exhibitions, notably in Canada, France, Russia and Senegal. His last major exhibition, Dessins de Papa Ibra Tall, took place in 1991 at the Galerie Nationale d'Art in Dakar. Rewarded for his artistic and cultural commitment, he received several prestigious distinctions: - Commandeur des Palmes Académiques de la République du Sénégal, - Knight of the Order of Rio Branco (Brazil), - Honorary citizen of the cities of New Orleans and Atlanta (USA). Papa Ibra Tall passed away in 2015, leaving a major artistic legacy and an indelible mark on the history of Senegalese and African art. Goldfield Ref: GFAD1561 Weight: 20GR Measures: H 285MM X W 205MM Condition: Normal wear Weight: 20 g Region: Africa Dimensions: H 285MM X W 205MM

    Goldfield Auction
  • Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman (unframed)
    Oct. 19, 2022

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman (unframed)

    Est: £4,000 - £6,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman signed and dated 'Papa Ibra '62' (upper right) watercolour 61.5 x 47cm (24 3/16 x 18 1/2in). (unframed)

    Bonhams
  • Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman unframed.
    Oct. 12, 2021

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman unframed.

    Est: £6,000 - £9,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman signed and dated 'Papa Ibra '62' (upper right) watercolour 61.5 x 47cm (24 3/16 x 18 1/2in). unframed. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

    Bonhams
  • Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman unframed.
    Mar. 17, 2021

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman unframed.

    Est: £10,000 - £15,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Fisherwoman signed and dated 'Papa Ibra '62' (upper right) watercolour 61.5 x 47cm (24 3/16 x 18 1/2in). unframed. For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website

    Bonhams
  • Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Vin Noir
    May. 02, 2019

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Vin Noir

    Est: $40,000 - $60,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (Senegal 1935-2015) Vin Noir signed and dated 'PapaIbraTall 64' (lower right); inscribed 'VIN NOIR' (verso)oil on canvas board 98.5 x 98.5cm (38 3/4 x 38 3/4in). Senegalese artist Papa Ibra Tall (b. 1935, d. 2015) was a crucial figure in the history African modernism, Senegal's nationalist arts movement, and Négritude. The liberatory ideology of Négritude was first formulated in the 1930s and espoused by poets and politicians Léopold Sédar Senghor of Senegal, Léon Damas from French Guiana, and Aimé Césaire from Martinique. For these and scores of other politicians, artists, authors, it protested colonialism, promoted African heritage, culture, and identity, and advocated for Pan-African and Afro-diasporic solidarities. It also deeply shaped the work of Tall throughout his career, as well as the production of other similarly preoccupied members of what became known as the École de Dakar, which included artists such as Bacary Dième and Ibou Diouf.Initially educated in Senegal, Papa Ibra Tall traveled to France in 1955, supported by Senghor and his party who were interested in nurturing the talent of Senegalese artists for the benefit of the nation. While in Paris, Tall studied various media and artmaking techniques, working with architecture at the École Spéciale d'Architecture et des Beaux-Arts, as well as pottery, painting, drawing, tapestry, and silk screen printing at various French institutions. In 1960, Tall returned to a Senegal that was working to build up its national culture and doing so by investing specifically in the fine arts. That year – which also coincided with Senegal's independence from France— Senghor, who had become the nation's first president, opened the École des Arts du Sénégal, ushering in a new period of government-backed artistic production. Tall taught at the school alongside other artists such as Iba Ndiaye and served as the co-chair with Pierre Lods of the Section de Recherches Plastiques Nègres, working to develop an understanding of modern Senegalese art informed by Négritude and to eschew European artistic conventions. In 1965, Tall left his position at the art school to found and direct what would become the Manufacture Sénégalaise des Arts Décoratifs.Tall's oeuvre from the 1960s demonstrates his commitment to Négritude as well as the development of his unique visual language, which he explored through various media such as paintings and tapestries. Works like Black Wine feature vibrant colors and sinuous lines that transverse the entire canvas, page, or tapestry. Each mark or thread is methodically and rhythmically placed; Tall was a very detail-oriented, skilled draftsman who created swirling, precise compositions in his effort to help create a national artistic sphere and idiom. Senghor's Négritude worked to imagine a universal black experience, typically conceived of as an idealized, essentialized blackness, to formulate transnational black solidarities. Tall's Black Wine is likely named after a line from Senghor's 1945 poem "Femme Noire," which praises the beauty of the black woman—calling her akin to "black wine"— and later equates her to an Africa that needs to be protected. The last lines of the poem read, "I sing your passing beauty and fix it for all Eternity/before jealous Fate reduces you to ashes to nourish the roots of life." For those inspired by Négritude, African culture and heritage needed to be safeguarded and valued. To do so, artists and authors relied upon both historical and fictional understandings of the African past. For example, in Tall's painting, the darkened eyes and profile view of the figure in Black Wine evokes African masking traditions. Additionally, the beads on the figure's neck and wrist, as well as the carefully elongated fingers and neck, give Tall's subject a sense of cool and collected elegance. Black Wine importantly underscores the ideological connections between Tall and Senghor as well as the importance of Négritude for many African artists during the mid-twentieth century.We are grateful to Jessica Womack, Doctoral Student, Princeton University for her assistance in the preparation of the above catalogue entry.

    Bonhams
  • ƒ Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal) La semeuse d'étoiles
    Nov. 14, 2018

    ƒ Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal) La semeuse d'étoiles

    Est: €12,000 - €18,000

    ƒ Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal) La semeuse d'étoiles Tapisserie Tissée en 2018 pour la Biennale de Dakar Signée en bas à gauche Monogrammée en bas à droite Porte une étiquette détaillée de la Manufacture Sénégalaise des Arts Décoratifs de Thiès cousue au rever 286 x 253 cm Exposition : Dak'art Biennale, 2018, Sénégal.

    Piasa
  • PAPA IBRA TALL | The Warrior
    Oct. 16, 2018

    PAPA IBRA TALL | The Warrior

    Est: £8,000 - £12,000

    oil on celotex

    Sotheby's
  • Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal)Semeuse d''étoiles
    Apr. 20, 2017

    Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal)Semeuse d''étoiles

    Est: €10,000 - €15,000

    Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015, Sénégal) Semeuse d''étoiles Tapisserie Signée en bas à gauche Etiquette au dos : Manufactures Sénégalaises des Arts Décoratifs. Thiès - Sénégal. Numéro 0507. Copyright BSDA 4/8 201 x 298 cm

    Piasa
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