Malick Sidibé (1935–2016) - 4 photos vintage "Soirée Les Beatles" - 1969

Exceptional museum pieces (unique 'vintage' prints of this kind are part of the Centre Pompidou collections in Paris, and MoMA in New York has just acquired one this year.) It was the reference system used by Malick Sidibé for ordering prints. Most photos on his contact sheets exist in no other form, the prints having not been ordered and the negatives often not surviving. These photos provide a unique glimpse into social life in Bamako, Mali, in the 1960s and 1970s. About Malick Sidibé's vintage prints (excerpt from the 'Mali Twist' exhibition at the Fondation Cartier): "I displayed [these prints] in front of the studio where the young people gathered. It was like cinema. Some ordered prints without buying them; the most important thing was that the photos were seen." Commissioned by stylish young Bamako residents in the latest fashion, these prints are the memory of moments of joy and pleasure when these youths discovered their image magnified by their 'friend' Malick Sidibé. Works exhibited as part of the Rencontres de la photographie in Arles in 2026.

Estimate:£1,016.66

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