Baya Mahieddine, better known as Baya, is one of the most important post-war Algerian artista. Orphaned at a Young age, she was adopted in 1942 by the French artista, intelectual and colletor Marguerite Caminat Benhoura, who stimulated Baya’s artistic development and taught her to Paint. This edition of Derrier le Miroir was published to accompany Baya’s first solo exhibition, at the influential Galerie Maeeght in Paris. Baya was 16.
Baya is often described as an outsider, a child artist “discovered” by art dealer Aimé Maeght and “taken under the wings” of intellectuals and artists such as André Breton, Jean Dubuffet, and Pablo Picasso. In Derriére le miroir Baya is described as “la petite orpheline”, the little orphan. The colorful, magical world of her paintings would seem to confirm this view of her. But recent exhibitions and books show her to have been a determined artist who consciously chose and developed her own style.
She painted women, birds, fish, and plants in bright shades of blue, red, and yellow, frequently including patterns. The Algerian writer Assia Djebar sees the eyes as the key to understanding Baya’s artistic intentions: “Baya’s woman fixes her giant eye, wide open, on flowers, fruits, the sound of the lute and the guitar, the complicit birds, the fish in the bowl, a child perched on the head or shoulder of the hostess who is conversing with a palm tree … [Bayal, the first in a string of sequestered women whose blindfold suddenly fell from their eyes.”
In 1953, Baya returned to Algeria, married, had children, and stopped painting for nearly ten years. Was she preoccupied with her family, or was it because of the bloody war of independence that raged until 1962? Whatever the case, after independence she reappeared, painting again and exhibiting her work. In 1967 Baya also signed the manifesto of the group Achouem (tattoo), which called for the reassembly of “artistic elements invented by the civilizations of the Third World” to -give expression to “the new Algerian reality”.
Art, colours, Ethnic Patterns, Featured, Modern Art, Museums, North of Africa, Primitive art
Mask from the BaSongye, whose Word for mask, kifwebe, is commonly applied by collectors to this type of mask. The male mask embody the power of sorcery and perform spectacular feats to induce fear in the spectators.
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Fanti doll, clearly related in form ton the Ashanti akua ba. It has been claimed that both types of doll are Ashanti, and that the round-headed type is worn when girls is desired and the rectangular-headed type when a boy is wanted, but in fact they are the work of diferent peoples.
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Wooden figures covered with brass or copper sheeting are placed by the BaKota over a package containing simple bones of outstanding ancestors. The form was developed to display as much of the valuable metal as possible. (Juan Gris made a copy of one in cardboard in 1922)
BaKota People, Cameroon, Ethnic Patterns, Explore, Featured, Home Decor, Juan Gris, Modern Art, Museums, Primitive art, Tribal
Figure from northern Nigeria have been made by a Mumuye. A remarkable feature of the style is the way in wich the arms and even the abdomen of one piece are used to enclose space within the sculpture.
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White faced mask of type used by the BaKota, BaLumbo, BaPunu, Mpongwe and several other tribes. Documented pieces have been collected among all these peoples. Among th BaPunu the wearer dances on sitis
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Jujus are a fetish piece of art for most interior designers around the globe and one of the best kept secrets and they are used as a visual attraction. Due to this fact, jujus have achieved great popularity.
Designs with juju hats provide texture to walls with an exceptional touch of glamour due to the natural feathers of birds.
Depending on the season, you can combine jujus in different areas of your house. If you wish to use them for a wall composition, you can use vivid and bright colours in summer. In winder choose neutral tones and jujus with natural feathers at any time.
You can also try with a sequence of progressive colours and include bicolour or multicoloured jujus.
The main colour of juju has to match with the colour of some decorative element found in the area. On the walls painted with dark colours you can use light and white jujus.
You can decorate the living room, entrance hall, dining rooms, bedrooms, kitchen or bathroom. They can also be placed outdoors (if you avoid exposure to high temperatures).
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Boho style has its roots in the French Word ‘boheme’ and the artistic bohemian concept.
Boho interior style is rich, versatile, colorful and relaxed, as the life of the nomads discovering new lands.
COLOUR PALETTE
The colour palette of this style is bright and intense: orange, yellow, purple, ultramarine and fuchsia make the house cheerful and cozy.
A boho-house is magnificently decorated with textiles, draperies, blankets, pillows, bright covers for furniture, carpets, exactly as the nomadic people do.
DÉCOR TIPS
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Stella Jean is an emerging Italian fashion designer, whose cultural identity often provides inspiration for her eponymous label. She collaborates with African artisans, based on the principle of increase in value, economic impact and respect for the territory, resources and traditions of the local communities who must be supported, while at the same time preserving ancestral knowledge – at risk of extinction – and opposing the debasing effect of imperialist homogenization
Her testament is how fashion, beyond aesthetics, can evolve into an instrument of counter-colonisation and become a vehicle for, and expression of, economic, social and ethical growth and enfranchisement.
The principles of an intentional, but never ostentatious, elegance are developed and expressed through sharp Italian artisanal tailoring. A mood whose uniqueness is revealed as a reflection of the designer’s personal multiculturalism, translated into the “Wax & Stripes Philosophy”, her veritable signature style.
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(1886-1962) Were a French orientalist painter and son of the famous Art Nouveau furniture designer, Louis Majorelle. He arrived in Morocco in 1917, invited by the French Resident-General, Marshal Lyautey. Majorelle was seduced by Marrakesch. In 1923, he decided to live there, purchasing a vast palm grove that would become the Majorelle Garden we know today.
In 1980, Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent acquired the Jardin Majorlele, saving it from real estate developers. Since the, the garden has been restored, and many new plants have been added
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