“African Spirits”

From the 1950s through the 1980s, commercial studio portrait photography in Africa developed into an artistic genre that went well beyond the prosaic task of capturing a subject’s likeness. Photographers such as Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé employed minimal sets to maximal advantage by draping boldly patterned fabrics behind the sitter to make him or her pop dynamically from the background. This show presents their work alongside those by contemporary artists they have influenced.