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Senegal is mourning the death of one of the major figures of « L’école de Dakar« . The painter Souleymane Keita died on 19th July at the Clinic Casahous further to a short disease.
Contemporary visual artist, Souleymane Keita was born on 17th April 1947 in Gorée. His works were strongly inspired from his home town. Considered as one of the fathers of the contemporary creation in Senegal, his paintings were exposed for the first time in 1960.
After his studies at the National School of Fine Arts of Dakar under the supervision of the painter, Iba Ndiaye (1928-2008), he became in his turn a professor of ceramic and painting at the Jamaïca Arts Center in New York. The Senegalese painter was also a board member of Gorée Institute and the Scientific Council of the Biennial event of Dakar.
Today, the works of Souleymane Keita embellish numerous museums, institutions, presidencies and embassies worldwide. Since the announcement of his death, several personalities of the arts world have been paying tribute to the memory of the artist.
« I think again (…) about the talent of Souleymane Keïta. He was peculiar. His paintbrush was of light. He was of those who invented their offspring by thwarting the common grave of painters from the School of Dakar that the great Senghor inspired and shaped« , indicated the poet, Tinder Lamine Sall.
Original text by: Roger ADZAFO
