"Souleymane Keïta, one of the best painters of his generation, has proven to be a worthy heir to his elder (Iba Ndiaye). His recent works have achieved to convince of the technical mastery of a creator who refuses any concession to facility. Better still, his view of the world, stripped of all embellishment, has led to a symbolism of the sign, the key to universal language."
- Coura Thiam Ba, Minister of Culture of Senegal S. Sankalé, B. Breytenbach, Souleymane Keïta, Sepia-Neas, Paris, 1994.
"I worked for a good period of time doing what was called at one point in French circles, "support surface", but I didn't know I was following the "support-surface" movement. It took the Soulages exhibition in Senegal for me to realize that I had the same tools and the same working techniques. For example, I worked on the floor, like him. In fact, I had the same aesthetic concerns as these artists; I was seventeen, eighteen years old at the time.
Souleymane Keïta (1947-2014, Senegal)
Untitled, 1994
Estimate: 6000 / 8000 €
Afterwards, I had a lot of difficulties because the artists who were painting in Senegal at the time had a certain style. Artists such as Ibra Tall, Ibou Diouf, Bocar Diongue, Ousmane Faye. If one did not paint with the same state of mind, one was not considered in the "circuit" of Senegalese painters. I began to make concessions, to include symbolism in my painting, to introduce figures, etc.. After a few years, I got tired of that, because I realized that it was not my way at all; so I started working with watercolors. (...) I started to work more intensely; most of my production from this period was watercolors. And that's it! I followed my path little by little. I started to travel, to meet other artists, in other African countries.
In 1975/76, I went to the United States. It was immensely enriching because there I met artists who had the same concerns as me: African-Americans, artists of the diaspora, painters, sculptors, musicians, etc. This period was also very important because it was there that I developed a series that I called "A journey to Mali, from Dakar to Bamako". During the five years that I spent in New York City, I only worked on this series.
(...)
Souleymane Keïta (1947-2014, Senegal)
Untitled, 200
Estimate: 7000 / 9000 €
It is only very recently, perhaps subconsciously, after all these travels (...), that I have come to claim something in my painting that I had never claimed before - I never thought that one day I would reach this stage - this thing is my negritude.
The result of this awareness is what you are seeing around me."
Souleymane Keïta to Sylvain Sankalé. S. Sankalé, B. Breytenbach, Souleymane Keïta, Sepia-Neas, Paris, 1994.
