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Baya Mahieddine (born Fatima Haddad, 1931-1998, Bordj El Kiffan, Algeria) was a self-taught Algerian artist. Orphaned at age 5, she worked on her grandmother’s farm & was discovered by Aimé Maeght (French art collector) who noticed her clay figurines & drawings.
#art
#algeria
#art
#algeria
Unable to attend school, Baya worked as a maid for a French woman named Marguerite Benhoura (Baya’s grandmother was Benhoura’s maid too) who would later be described by the artist as her adoptive mother. Benhoura noticed the talent in her and encouraged her to develop her craft.
Baya had her first exhibition at the age of 16 in Aimé Maeght’s gallery, Paris. She is known for having influenced Picasso and Matisse. Picasso’s Women of Algiers series was inspired by her.
Baya, Women and orange trees on a white background, gouache on board, 1947 #art #algeria
Baya, Women and orange trees on a white background, gouache on board, 1947 #art #algeria
André Breton included her works in his famed Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme - an exhibition by surrealist artists that took place in 1938 - but Baya refused to define herself using the terminology of the Western canon.
Baya, Woman and child in blue, 1947
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#algeria
Baya, Woman and child in blue, 1947
#art
#algeria
Baya (Baya Mahieddine, born Fatima Haddad, Algerian artist, 1931-1998, Bordj El Kiffan, Algeria), Woman with blue hair in a yellow dress, 1947
#art
#algeria
#art
#algeria
Baya (Baya Mahieddine, born Fatima Haddad, Algerian artist, 1931-1998, Bordj El Kiffan, Algeria), Woman with a caged bird, 1947
#art
#algeria
#art
#algeria
