Images(4)

Nuit de Noël (Happy Club)

Maker Malick Sidibé (Malian, 1936 - 2016)

Date1963, printed 2002

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 18 × 18 in. (45.7 × 45.7 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Matted: 28 × 28 in. (71.1 × 71.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman

Object number2014.720

Status

Not on view

Description

Website Text

Malick Sidibé’s photographs were objects of desire, much like the Parisian fashion items that his newly independent Malian subjects were enjoying in the early 1960s. The occasion of his photographic sessions were themselves fêted events. His thousands of photographs from the 1960s give insight into a moment of great change and optimism. The photographer recounts, “Music freed us. Suddenly, young men could get close to young women, hold them in their hands. Before, it was not allowed. And everyone wanted to be photographed dancing up close. They had to see it!” Here, Sidibé has acquiesced to “everyone’s” request, photographing two people dancing close together, their heads almost touching. The faces of the dancing couple are lit to show their soft smiles and shyly downcast eyes. The photographer’s flash does not appear to intrude upon this intimate moment, rather, it seems a welcome contribution to the festivities.

Smart Publications:

not all realisms