Iba N'Diaye, (Senegalese, 1928-2008)

La Chanteuse de Blues (The blues singer) 44 7/8 x 76 3/4in (114 x 195cm)

La Chanteuse de Blues (The blues singer)
signed and dated 'N'Diaye 84' (lower right), bears exhibition label verso
oil on canvas
44 7/8 x 76 3/4in (114 x 195cm)

Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by Raoul Lehuard;
A private collection.

Exhibited
Den Haag, Netherlands, Musuem Paleis Lange Voorhout, Iba Ndiaye', 1996.

Literature
Pierre Gaudibert, Art africain contemporain, Paris, éditions Cercle d'art, 1991, p.139, no.62
Museum Paleis Lange Voorhout, Den Haag, Iba Ndiaye 1996, illust
p.21.

N'Diaye depicted many jazz musicians and singers in works that have many layers of pigment and varnish to reproduce the sensation of being in a smoke-filled cafe and cabaret.

The artist was inspired by a concern for technique similar to that found in musical composition. He voiced a strong affinity with the musicians and would reminisce fondly about the artists he had met and knew.

A similar work from the same year 'Jazz à Manhattan' can be found in a US private collection and 'Hommage à Bessie Smith' currently hangs in the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, Washington DC. This work of 1987 is a tribute to the African-American blues singer Bessie Smith (1894-1937).

An exhibition of the collection of the critic Pierre Gaudibert, who chose to illustrate the above work in his 1991 publication, will be held at the Museum of Modern Art, Paris. It will include two works by Iba N'Diaye.