Malick Sidibé (1935–2016) - Vintage unique "les Amoureux" - 1969

Exceptional museum pieces (unique vintage prints similar to these form part of the Centre Pompidou's collections in Paris, and MoMA in New York has just acquired one this year.) This was the reference system used by Malick Sidibé for commissioning prints. Most vintage photos exist in no other form, the prints were not ordered and the negatives often did not survive. 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 exhibition "Mali Twist" at 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; what mattered most was that the photos were seen." Commissioned by stylish young Bamako residents, these prints are the memory of moments of joy and pleasure when these youngsters discovered their image magnified by their 'friend' Malick Sidibé. Works exhibited as part of the Rencontres de la photographie in Arles in 2026.

Estimate:$670.41

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