Ousmane Sow
Ousmane Sow (10 October 1935 – 1 December 2016) was a Senegalese sculptor of larger-than-life statues of people and groups of people.
Ousmane Sow
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- Name
- Ousmane Sow
- Born
- 10 October 1935
- Birthplace
- Dakar, Senegal
- Died
- 1 December 2016
- Awards
- Prince Claus Award, 2008
- Elected
- member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, 2013
- Nationality
- Senegal
- Occupation
- sculptor
- Honours
- Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres · Prince Claus Award · Commander of the Legion of Honour
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Ousmane Sow (10 October 1935 – 1 December 2016) was a Senegalese sculptor of larger-than-life statues of people and groups of people.
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Documentary evidence
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wikidata · Q2784081 · wikipedia · Ousmane Sow
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Ousmane Sow • Born — 10 October 1935 • Birthplace — Dakar, Senegal • Died — 1 December 2016 • Place of death — Dakar, Senegal • Awards — Prince Claus Award, 2008 • Elected — member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, 2013 • Website — ousmanesow.com
Life
Life
Sow was born in Dakar, Senegal, on 10 October 1935. After the death of his father in 1956, he left Dakar to study in France, where he obtained a diploma in physiotherapy. He returned to Senegal after it became independent in 1960 and started a practice in physiotherapy. He later went back to France and practised there, but returned to Senegal in 1978. He died in Dakar on 1 December 2016 at the age of 81.
Work
Work
Sow was inspired by photographs by Leni Riefenstahl of the Nuba peoples of southern Sudan, and from 1984 began to work on a series of larger-than-life sculptures of muscular Nuba wrestlers. To make them, he developed a series of new techniques and materials. They were shown at the Centre Culturel Français de Dakar in 1987. Sow later made series of sculptures of Maasai people, of Zulu people, of Peul or Fulani people, and, in the late 1990s, of Native Americans.
Further reading and viewing
Further reading and viewing
• Yolande Josèphe (1993) Ousmane Sow: Sculpteur d'Afriques (film, 24'). Paris: Sésame productions; Ateliers de diffusion audiovisuelle. (VHS video) • Jean Loup Pivin, Pascal Martin Saint Léon, Jean-Marc Tingaud (1995). Ousmane Sow: Sculptures. Paris: Editions Revue Noire.. • Alain Mabanckou (1999). Ousmane Sow: La sculpture du spectacle. Présence Africaine (159): 211–214. • [Ousmane Sow] (1999). Ousmane Sow: Pont des Arts, Paris, 20 mars – 20 mai 1999 (special number of Beaux Arts magazine). Paris: Beaux Arts SA.. • Jacques A. Bertrand, Béatrice Soulé ([2006]). Ousmane Sow. Arles: Actes Sud. • Béatrice Soulé (2006). Ousmane Sow (film, 26'); Ousmane Sow, le soleil en face (film, 55'). Neuilly-sur-Seine: Le P'tit jardin; Paris: Actes Sud. (DVD video) • Fabrice Hervieu-Wane (2008). Ousmane Sow: Sculpteur d'histoires. In: Fabrice Hervieu-Wane, Éric Maulavé (2008). Dakar l'insoumise. Paris: Éditions Autrement.. • Nicolas Michel (2009). Ousmane Sow, l'anartiste. Jeune Afrique (2525): 86–87. • Béatrice Soulé, Christophe Humbert (2009). Même Ousmane Sow a été petit. Paris: Le P'tit Jardin..
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1935
Ousmane Sow was born on 10 October 1935.
2016
Ousmane Sow died on 1 December 2016.
Reception
Sow had many international exhibitions, including at documenta IX in Kassel in 1992, at Palazzo Grassi in Venice during the Biennale of 1995, and on the Pont des Arts in Paris in 1999. In the 2008 Prince Claus Awards, on the theme of Culture and the human body, he was one of the eleven laureates. On 11 April 2012 Sow was elected a Membre Associé Etranger ("foreign associate member") of the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France, replacing Andrew Wyeth. He was the first black person to have been elected to membership.
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2784081: Ousmane Sow
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Ousmane Sow”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Biographie sur le site officiel de l'artiste.
- 2.« Le sculpteur sénégalais Ousmane Sow est mort » sur Le Monde, décembre 2016
- 3.Bénézit B00172839
- 4.A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press. 2009. 9780191726750.
- 5.The Guardian, obituary
- 6.Muse Edu, "Little Big Horn on the Seine: Salah Hassan on Ousmane Sow's Epic on the Pont des Arts"
- 7.New York Times, WILLIAM GRIMES, "Ousmane Sow, Sculptor of Larger-Than-Life Figures, Dies at 81", DEC. 1, 2016
- 8.African success, Biographie
- 9.Boston Globe, obituary
- 10.Besançon s'offre un bronze géant de Victor Hugo signé Ousmane Sow. AFP Infos françaises. 2003-05-13.
- 11.Sylvain Amiotte. Art et humanité : Victor Hugo par Ousmane Sow. Le Progrès. 2003-10-20.
- 12.Inauguration d'un bronze géant de Victor Hugo signé Ousmane Sow à Besançon. AFP Infos Françaises. 2003-10-17.
- 13.Smithonian mag, Owen Edwards , "A larger than life Toussaint Louverture", 2011
- 14.Ousmane Sow inaugure sa statue de Toussaint-Louverture à la Rochelle. Franceinfo. 2015-05-21.
- 15.Philippe Sauter, Polémique autour des nouvelles couleurs de la statue de Victor Hugo, estrepublicain.fr, 19 novembre 2022
- 16."On dirait un Victor Hugo noir" : pourquoi la restauration d'une statue de l'écrivain suscite la polémique à Besançon ?, ladepeche.fr, 22 novembre 2022
- 17.Restaurée, dégradée… À Besançon, la statue de Victor Hugo crée la polémique, ouest-france.fr, 21 novembre 2022
- 18.National Museum of Africa
- 19.Ousmane Sow. le site Sénégal On Line.
- 20.Discours prononcé par M. Ousmane Sow lors de son installation à l'Académie des beaux-arts, le mercredi 11 décembre 2013, au fauteuil d'Andrew Wyeth. academie-des-beaux-arts.fr.
- 21.Ousmane Sow, premier Noir à l'Académie française des beaux-arts. lemonde.fr. 12 décembre 2013.
- 22.Véronique Lorelle. Ousmane Sow passe le pont des Arts, l'épée à la main. lemonde.fr. décembre 2016.
- 23.« Les lutteurs » d'Ousmane Sow en corps à corps place de Valois. paris.fr. 21 mars 2019.
- 24.Anne Hidalgo inaugure la Place Ousmane Sow. presse.paris.fr.
- 25.France 24, Hommage
- 26.BBC.com, Senegal sculptor Ousmane Sow awarded French honour, 2013
- 27.Académie des Beaux-arts
Bibliography printed in the source article · 6
- Pont des Arts - Paris 1999, Éditions Le P'tit Jardin 2007 Distribution Actes- Sud
- Ousmane Sow - 1995 - Éditions Revue noire (épuisé)
- Le Soleil en face – 1999 - Éditions Le P’tit jardin
- Ousmane Sow - 2006 - Éditions Actes Sud
- Même Ousmane Sow a été petit - 2009 - Éditions Le P’tit Jardin Distribution Actes Sud
- Ousmane Sow - 2014 - Françoise Monnin - Éditions Ides et Calendes
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
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Open the remaining particulars
Works and catalogued output. Recorded as having received Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Prince Claus Award and Commander of the Legion of Honour.
Toussaint Louverture
2015
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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