{"product_id":"seydou-kezta-seydou-keita-9781636811888","title":"Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis lavishly illustrated book offers a comprehensive overview of the work of the great Malian photographer Seydou Keïta, one of the most important portraitists of the 20th century\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeydou Keïta's photographs capture Malian culture during an era of radical transformation. Working as a commercial portrait photographer, he employed backdrops and props--including cars, Vespas and European clothing and accessories--that allowed sitters to construct new identities before the camera's lens. His strikingly intimate photographs showcase his ability to draw out detail and emotion from his subjects and resonate with audiences across geographic and cultural borders.\u003cbr\u003eAt first practicing by photographing his friends and family, Keïta later opened his own photographic studio in downtown Bamako in 1948, one of the first in the city. His clientele were primarily middle-class residents. Keïta kept a selection of fashionable props that customers could pose with, as if their own, against bold patterned backgrounds. At the time, Keïta's portraiture was intimately connected to ideas of modernity; his studio became a place to explore new ways of fashioning the self.\u003cbr\u003eThis groundbreaking publication, which accompanies an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, draws on photography, personal ephemera and textiles to explore the social and political realities of the period. Richly illustrated and supported with texts from leading scholars and writers, this book is the essential volume on Seydou Keïta.\u003cbr\u003eBorn in Bamako, Mali, \u003cb\u003eSeydou Keïta\u003c\/b\u003e (1921\/23-2001) spent his youth working as a carpenter, following in the footsteps of his father. However, after receiving a Kodak Brownie Flash camera as a gift from his uncle in 1935, Keïta shifted his focus to photography. In 1948 he opened his studio in downtown Bamako, making portraits of thousands of Malians over more than a decade. After Mali gained independence in 1962, Keïta was hired as the new government's official photographer. His work was not well known outside of Western Africa until 1991, when a selection of his studio portraits were exhibited, albeit anonymously, in New York City. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book was published in conjunction with Brooklyn Museum.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Seydou Keita\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1636811884\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781636811888\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Delmonico Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/25\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Seydou Keita","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47135391416575,"sku":"9781636811888","price":65.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_1e455da7-2ac7-4ab1-8b55-6331b2602a0b.jpg?v=1755010008","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/seydou-kezta-seydou-keita-9781636811888","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}