Died 21 October 2014, Dakar, Senegal | ||
Kre M’Baye, also known as Amadou (or Armedy) Kre M’Baye (25 April 1949 – 21 October 2014), was a Senegalese artist and art instructor.
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Life and work
He was born Andy Keve in Dakar, Senegal, on April 25, 1949. He was nicknamed “Kere” or “Kre” even as a primary school child because he used to draw constantly on the classroom blackboard with chalk (craie in French). Since 1969 he has been an associate of celebrated African artists such as Ibou Diouf, Mamadou Niang, Seidou Barry, Mor Faye (father of Ousmane Faye) and Art College professor Pierre Lods.
In 1974 he played the head of a gang in the well-received movie Baks (Yamba), produced by Momar Thiam, but abandoned acting in favor of his career as an artist. His first exhibition in 1976 at the Dynamique Museum of Dakar was highly acclaimed, his painting "The Messenger" receiving particular praise by President Léopold Sédar Senghor.
Some of M'Baye's best-known works are his portraits of women inspired by the face of his mother Fari Fate (Mame Fari), “a woman griot of great renown; a fascinating storyteller of Senegalese history”. Very stylish, full of exuberance and cheerfulness, Fari Fate with her jewelries, her meticulous dresses, her elaborate hairstyles, inspired to the artist a painting style full of fineness. M'Baye has another style that tends to abstract paintings dominated by blue and orange colors.
M'Baye is a disciple of Pierre Lods and was self-trained in the workshop of Peter Plastics Research Lods. In 1994 Gaston Madeira formed "Netty Guy" (The Three Baobabs), bringing together Kré M'Baye, Moussa N'Diaye Baydie M'Baye and Zulu, three painters representative of the School of Arts in Dakar, who in 1998 opened a gallery on the Senegalese island of N'gor and founded Workshops N'gor. He was a participant in Tenq, the first workshop on the Triangle model (led by El Hadji Sy and sponsored by CBAO, Maersk, SAEC and the British Council, Dakar) held in West Africa, which took place at the Lycée Cheikh Oumar Fontiyou in Saint-Louis, Senegal; the first event of Africa95, a year-long festival celebrating African arts in the UK and Africa, featuring 25 artists from 10 African countries and Great Britain.
M'Baye's brother Seni M’Baye is also a noted Senegalese artist.