This year, the major exhibition on the beach in Deauville brings together two photographers who never met – Robert Doisneau, who died on 1 April 1994 , and Malick Sidibé, who came to Paris for the first time in January 1995 – the two of them could have been great friends!
On the one hand, Robert Doisneau, probably the most popular and best-loved French photographer, known for his famous photos taken in post-war Paris, for the tenderness and gentle irony shining through his pictures, which are part of an immense body of work, made up of history and humanity. On the other, Malick Sidibé, famous in Bamako and all the region since the 1960s, who combined studio portraits and festivities, leaving us hundreds of thousands of photos, now well-known all over the world. A portait of Africa by itself, both tender and amusing, of great value both from a historic and a human perspective.
The dialogue between two worlds and two cultures is illustrated by the choice of series exhibited, which are not well known: Palm Springs, (in colour!) from a photo-reportage made by Doisneau in 1960, on the construction of golf courses in Palm Springs, a refuge for rich American pensioners, and the pictures, many hitherto unseen, of Bamako youth, photographed by Sidibé in the early 1970s, at the town’s brand-new swimming pool or on the banks of the River Niger.
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