Cheri Samba
in the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Chéri Samba – born in 1956 in Congo – is undoubtedly the most famous African painter of his generation. Ambassador of “popular painting” of Kinshasa, he has largely contributed to making this informal movement known with his figurative paintings in frank colors which challenge, denounce, caricature and provoke, most often with humor, in a style which is anything but naive .
This exhibition at the Maillol Museum is the first retrospective of the painter’s work, covering 40 years of creation. With more than 50 paintings, she presents a journey through several “Sambaian” themes: the self-portrait as a central element of her painting, the Congo and Africa, geopolitics and the environment, the history of art and finally women, theme with which an unprecedented dialogue with the work of Maillol appears in the museum.
All of the works brought together for the occasion come from the Jean Pigozzi collection, the most important collection of contemporary African art in the world, which has contributed for more than thirty years to the recognition of sub-Saharan African artists on the scene. international.
