Baya’s Radical Folklore

Baya Mahieddine’s primitive and surreal art was quite radical for its time. A prodigy of her time, she had her first exhibition in Paris at 16 years old. She gained the attention of Picasso, later becoming his lover and André Beaton. Baya’s work is notable with the scenes of women or nature, and the lack of men in her work. The art world at the time saw her as an outsider and a child artist, but that did not deter her from producing an extensive amount of paintings and pottery. What makes her work so eye-catching is her use of bright colors. What drew me to her art is that it revealed dreamlike and surrealist qualities in very simple domestic settings.

Hussah

(Images courtesy of Grey Art Gallary, Gross & Delterz, and Trivium Art History)

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