Fatma BAYA (Bordj el Kiffan 1931- Blida 1998)

Two women Gouache and watercolor on paper Sight : 116 x 97 cm Signed and dated "68" on the lower left. Countersigned on the back. Born in Kabylia in 1931, Baya joined Algiers in 1943, under the protection of the intellectual Marguerite Caminat Benhoura. She was given access to education, art materials and her collection of modern art, including Picasso, Braque, Matisse and Miro. Her precocious talent impressed André Breton, who saw in her paintings an imaginary world akin to surrealism. Baya thus appeared at the International Surrealist Exhibition at the Maeght Gallery in Paris in July 1947, and followed this with a solo exhibition in November. She then moved to Vallauris to work on modeling and sculpture, notably with Picasso. In 1953, she moved to Algeria, where she continued to paint until her death in 1998. Self-taught, her gouaches do not meet any other standard except her phantasmagorical conception of the world. She distinguishes herself by a style that belongs to her and that does not fit into any contemporary movement. Her women, fantastic animals and landscapes are composed in large flat tones of color, sometimes surrounded by a thick black line. The two-dimensional compositions lead Baya to represent her characters often in profile, and rarely from the front. Today, her work is presented in private collections throughout the world, in France, Japan, at the Musée d'Art Brut in Lausanne and most recently in Sharjah. It is listed in the Dictionary of Surrealism, although it cannot be linked to any particular trend.