Papa Ibra Tall

Papa Ibra Tall (1935-2015) was a Senegalese painter, illustrator and tapestry weaver and a pivotal figure in the history of African modernism. The artist was deeply involved with the Négritude movement, which protested colonialism; promoted African heritage, culture, and identity; and advocated for Pan-African and Afro-diasporic solidarity. After encountering this movement, as well as the American Black Jazz movement while studying in Paris in the 1950s, he returned to Senegal to find the École de Dakar with Iba Ndiaye and Pierre Lods in 1960, where he sought to encourage the development of an identifiable Pan-African lexicon. Tall’s practice demonstrates his commitment to Négritude, as well as the development of his unique visual language, which he explored through various media. Featuring vibrant colors and sinuous lines that transverse the entire canvas, page, or tapestry, each mark or thread in Tall’s work is methodically and rhythmically placed. (KS)