Independent 20th Century: The Wondrous World of Baya | Booth A7

“I was born an artist; it’s a gift God has given me.”

- Baya

For Independent 20th Century 2025, the gallery presents a spotlight on Algerian Surrealist,  BAYA (1931 - 1998).

Born Fatima Haddad, Baya lost both parents at the age of five, she was raised by her grandmother until the age of eleven. Unable to keep up with costs, she began working as a live-in servant for Marguerite Caminat, a Frenchwoman whose personal art collection included works by such notable modernists as Braque and Matisse. Caminat saw the artistic potential in her and encouraged her to develop her skills, remarking on the enthusiasm with which she modeled figures out of clay.

She held her first exhibition in Paris at La Galerie Maeght in 1947, producing many ceramic works and becoming one of Picasso’s muses for his series of ‘Women of Algiers’. Although she became known in France, she remained based in Algeria. Her creations were rendered from deep and personal experiences that were primarily rooted in her childhood and home, where she remained even in times of turmoil such as the Algerian Revolution of 1954-1962. At a time when many European artists continued to paint women in exoticized and sexualized ways, Baya populated her canvases with expressive, joyfully rendered women that complicated stereotypes about North African conservatism as well as norms of female representation.

Baya’s works were included in a major retrospective, such as, Baya Mahieddine Exhibition at the Sharjah Art museum, UAE (2021) and she was included in the exhibition 100 Masterpieces of Modern and Contemporary Art: The Barjeel Collection, Museé de l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2017). Her artworks can still be seen in the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts in Algiers; the Arab World Institute in Paris; the Picasso Museum in Antibes; the Collection of Art Brut in Lausanne, and the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah.

Location: 

Casa Cipriani at the Battery Maritime Building
10 South Street
New York, NY 10004

Dates
September 4–7, 2025

Hours
September 4, 2025 | 11 AM – 8 PM (By Invitation)
September 5, 2025 | 11 AM – 7 PM
September 6, 2025 | 11 AM – 7 PM
September 7, 2025 | 11 AM – 6 PM

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