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Senegalese artists

20 artists

Senegal has been one of Africa's great art centres since independence. President Léopold Sédar Senghor, a poet, made art a national project: the École de Dakar of Papa Ibra Tall and Iba N'Diaye, the tapestry workshops of Thiès, and the 1966 World Festival of Negro Arts. In reaction, Issa Samb and the Laboratoire Agit'Art made experimental, political art in the streets of Dakar.

Senegal's sculptors are among the most famous on the continent: Ousmane Sow, whose giant figures filled the Pont des Arts in Paris in 1999, and Seyni Awa Camara of Bignona, whose clay mothers and spirits were shown at Magiciens de la Terre. Painters such as Viyé Diba, Kre M'Baye and Ndoye Douts, and photographers such as Omar Victor Diop, carry the scene forward, and the Dak'Art biennale brings the continent's artists to Dakar every two years. These are Senegal's artists with Wikipedia articles, most looked-up first. See also Senegalese painters and West Africa.

Profiles

Sculptor

Ousmane Sow

Senegal · 1935–2016

Ousmane Sow, a physiotherapist turned sculptor, made larger-than-life Nuba wrestlers and Maasai and Zulu warriors, and drew three million visitors in Paris.

Sculptor

Seyni Awa Camara

Senegal · 1945–2026

Seyni Awa Camara of Bignona, Casamance, modelled clay mothers, twins and many-headed spirits, shown at Magiciens de la Terre in 1989. She died in 2026.

More artists

Most looked-up first. Names link to our profile, or to Wikipedia where we do not have one yet. Short descriptions from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons. Image credits