PAPA IBRA TALL | The Warrior

Gift to the collection of Duke Ellington by the artist, 1966 
Guernsey's, New York, Forever Ellington, 18 May 2016, lot 70
Purchased at above sale by the present owner

Please note that the work is framed and has not been examined outside of its frame. The paint surface appears to be in very good condition overall.There appears to be minor wear and associated surface loss to all four corners of the work as well as along the upper framing edge. Upon close inspection, the work exhibits a number of very minor surface losses. Three of these occur in the center of the work, the largest being a vertical scratch measuring approximately 20mm in length. A further two areas of minor surface loss can be located within the bottom half of the work. One to the lower centre of the work, close to the framing edge and another to the lower left, approximately 30mm from the lower left hand framing edge. There also appears to be minor surface marks throughout the work which seem to be contemporary to the creation of the work. Please note that the upper left hand corner of the work appears to exhibit a light yellow/ochre coloring, which is likely inherent to the work and the artists intent. Inspection under UV light reveals no signs of restoration or repair. Overall, the work appears to be in very good condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Born in Tivaouane, Senegal in 1935, Papa Ibra Tall moved to study architecture in Paris at the École Spéciale d’Architecture et des Beaux-Arts in 1955. Encouraged by the poet and philosopher Léopold Sédar Senghor to pursue fine arts instead, he attended the École Superieure des Beaux-Arts and then studied at the Craft School of Sèvres. The artist was trained to work in a variety of media: oil paint, silk screen printing, tapestry and mosaic. In Paris he was involved in debates about Negritude theory and first encountered black American jazz. Tall left Paris to travel the United States, meeting the Jazz musician, John Coltrane, and the civil rights activist, Malcolm X. After Senegal’s independence in 1960, Senghor became the country’s first president and invited Tall to lead the Section de Recherches en Arts Plastiques Nègres, encouraging young African artists to use African subject matter and to rely less on the influence of Western art. “So at the time it was a question of creating, for myself, an artistic language which seemed to me to belong to Africa and to Senegal. I concluded that art is universal but that it was necessary for there to be particularities that one had to transcend to achieve this universality. So I thought that I couldn’t imitate what the French were doing. I was completely outside of that tradition. Therefore, I thought that it was necessary for me to construct a completely new language.”

Papa Ibra Tall created a tapestry workshop in his department, inspiring his students to work using decorative arts. Together, Tall and Senghor founded the first Senegalese centre for monumental tapestry production in 1966: Manufactures sénégalaises des arts décoratifs in Thiès.

In 1966, Senghor created the first Festival Mondial des Arts nègres, which took place in Dakar. The event brought together thousands of artists, musicians and writers from across Africa and its diaspora, including André Malraux, Aimé Césaire, Duke Ellington and Josephine Baker amongst others. In the context of decolonization and the civil rights movement in the United States, this festival aimed to recognise and celebrate art by black artists and writers. The festival continues today, with its most recently themed ‘African Renaissance’ Festival, which happened in 2011.

Papa Ibra Tall’s The Warrior (1966) was exhibited at the inaugural event. The Senegalese painter gifted the work to his friend, the musician, Duke Ellington. Ellington praised Tall’s art in his memoirs: “it is impossible to miss the feeling of Old Africa in each and every stroke of his work.” This painting demonstrates the artist’s technical skill at creating figurative compositions and the crossover between his designs for tapestries and paintings. The mass of lines radiating out from and intersecting the figure create a sense of woven threads, integrating the figure within the pictorial field.

Tall participated in the 8^th Biennial of Arts of São Paolo (1965), the first World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar (1966), the first Pan-African Festival of Algiers (1969) and the first Salon of Senegalese artists at the Museum Dynamique de Dakar (1973). His works have been exhibited at the National Art Gallery of Dakar (1991) and most recently during the 55^th Venice Biennial, at the Encyclopedic Palace in 2013.

Bibliography:

Elizabeth Harney, In Senghor’s Shadow: Art, Politics, and the Avant-Garde in Senegal, 1960-1995, Durham, North Carolina, 2004, p. 59
Duke Ellington, Music is my Mistress, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1973