What do you think?
Rate this book
Seeing Baya: Portrait of an Algerian Artist in Paris
The first biography of the Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine, celebrated in mid-twentieth-century Paris, her life shrouded in myth.
On a flower farm in colonial Algeria, a servant and field worker named Baya escaped the drudgery of her labor by coloring the skirts in fashion magazines. Three years later, in November 1947, her paintings and fanciful clay beasts were featured in a one-woman show at the Maeght Gallery in Paris. She wasn’t yet sixteen years old. Alice Kaplan tells the story of a young woman seemingly trapped in subsistence who becomes a sensation in the French capital, then mysteriously fades from the history of modern art—only to reemerge after independence as an icon of Algerian artistic heritage.
The toast of Paris for the 1947 season, Baya inspired colonialist fantasies about her “primitive" genius as well as genuine appreciation. She was featured in newspapers, radio, and a newsreel; her art was praised by Breton and Camus, Matisse and Braque. At the dawn of Algerian liberation, her appearance in Paris was used to stage the illusion of French-Algerian friendship, while horrific French massacres in Algeria were still fresh in memory.
Kaplan uncovers the central figures in Baya’s life and the role they played in her artistic career. Among the most poignant was Marguerite Caminat-McEwen-Benhoura, who took Baya from her sister’s farm to Algiers to work as her maid and gave the young girl paint and brushes. A complex and endearing character, Marguerite’s Pygmalion ambitions were decisive in determining Baya’s destiny. Kaplan also looks closely at Baya’s earliest paintings with an eye to their themes, their palette and design, and their enduring influence.
In vivid prose that brings Baya’s story into the present, Kaplan’s book, the fruit of scrupulous research in Algiers, Blida, Paris, and Provence, allows us to see in a whole new light the beloved artist who signed her paintings simply “Baya.”
On a flower farm in colonial Algeria, a servant and field worker named Baya escaped the drudgery of her labor by coloring the skirts in fashion magazines. Three years later, in November 1947, her paintings and fanciful clay beasts were featured in a one-woman show at the Maeght Gallery in Paris. She wasn’t yet sixteen years old. Alice Kaplan tells the story of a young woman seemingly trapped in subsistence who becomes a sensation in the French capital, then mysteriously fades from the history of modern art—only to reemerge after independence as an icon of Algerian artistic heritage.
The toast of Paris for the 1947 season, Baya inspired colonialist fantasies about her “primitive" genius as well as genuine appreciation. She was featured in newspapers, radio, and a newsreel; her art was praised by Breton and Camus, Matisse and Braque. At the dawn of Algerian liberation, her appearance in Paris was used to stage the illusion of French-Algerian friendship, while horrific French massacres in Algeria were still fresh in memory.
Kaplan uncovers the central figures in Baya’s life and the role they played in her artistic career. Among the most poignant was Marguerite Caminat-McEwen-Benhoura, who took Baya from her sister’s farm to Algiers to work as her maid and gave the young girl paint and brushes. A complex and endearing character, Marguerite’s Pygmalion ambitions were decisive in determining Baya’s destiny. Kaplan also looks closely at Baya’s earliest paintings with an eye to their themes, their palette and design, and their enduring influence.
In vivid prose that brings Baya’s story into the present, Kaplan’s book, the fruit of scrupulous research in Algiers, Blida, Paris, and Provence, allows us to see in a whole new light the beloved artist who signed her paintings simply “Baya.”
- GenresArtNonfiction
176 pages, Hardcover
Published October 15, 2024
1 person is currently reading
86 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 7, 2024
solid book about an immensely captivating and soul-enriching artist! only comment is i wish we could've somehow heard more from baya herself (or according to her family and friends) as opposed to through the lens of western/white benefactors/gallerists
but then again the art - the best part of the book - speaks for itself... wow! enchanting, awe-inspiring, tough to pin down - an artist (i wasn't familiar with) who deserves to have their art and impact chronicled:)
but then again the art - the best part of the book - speaks for itself... wow! enchanting, awe-inspiring, tough to pin down - an artist (i wasn't familiar with) who deserves to have their art and impact chronicled:)
July 25, 2024
Seeing Baya is a book about Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine and her early life. I knew nothing about Baya or her art before picking up this book, despite her rubbing shoulders with artists like Matisse and Picasso.
Her life, like many servant girls in colonies, is marred by tragedy early on. Orphaned and made to work at a young age she eventually gets taken in by a couple who sees her creative spark and her talent. Much of the story is told through the lens of her "adoptive" mother, Marguerite Caminat-McEwen-Benhoura, and focuses on the years she lived with Marguerite. Baya's story is limited by the sources and it is hard to separate fact from myth. Her life story stops in its tracks once she gets married and her return to painting isn't a big focus. It is mainly her life as a child artist.
The political backdrop is the focus of one chapter but I would have found it interesting to see even more of this. She lived through the Algerian war and Algerian independence but we do not see much about how this may have affected her life personally or as an artist.
The story is well-presented and interesting, allowing us a glimpse into the life of an artist whose art has to speak for her as there are so few sources of her speaking for herself. There are many events in her life where we will never know how she felt or if she was happy, but Kaplan does a good job of presenting Baya in context of those who knew and loved her.
Her life, like many servant girls in colonies, is marred by tragedy early on. Orphaned and made to work at a young age she eventually gets taken in by a couple who sees her creative spark and her talent. Much of the story is told through the lens of her "adoptive" mother, Marguerite Caminat-McEwen-Benhoura, and focuses on the years she lived with Marguerite. Baya's story is limited by the sources and it is hard to separate fact from myth. Her life story stops in its tracks once she gets married and her return to painting isn't a big focus. It is mainly her life as a child artist.
The political backdrop is the focus of one chapter but I would have found it interesting to see even more of this. She lived through the Algerian war and Algerian independence but we do not see much about how this may have affected her life personally or as an artist.
The story is well-presented and interesting, allowing us a glimpse into the life of an artist whose art has to speak for her as there are so few sources of her speaking for herself. There are many events in her life where we will never know how she felt or if she was happy, but Kaplan does a good job of presenting Baya in context of those who knew and loved her.
December 27, 2025
3.5* I loved learning about Baya but there were so many gaps in her story. I appreciated the historical context and felt that it was needed, but I wish there were more first hand accounts, especially from her family.
March 27, 2025
Two-and-a-half stars, rounded up because I had never heard of Baya Haddad and I did enjoy the illustrations in the book.
Two stars because the book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It seems the author embarked on a straightforward biography project, but ran into the problem of insufficient, or unreliable documentation, decided to focus on one well-documented episode in the life of Baya (her 1947 show at the prestigious Galerie Maeght, with Le Tout-Paris in attendance,) realized that this was still a bit thin, and threw in some thoughts about colonialism into the mix to eke out 150 pages.
What we learn is that Baya was born in Algeria in 1931, lost first her father, then her mother, lived in the care of her grandmother, worked as a farm worker on a flower farm belonging to a French colonial, and was "discovered" as a 14-year artistic prodigy by the farmer's sister-in-law, herself an amateur artist. An arrangement is arrived at whereby Baya goes to live with Madame Caminat, partially as domestic servant, partially as artistic protegee. Madame Caminat is well connected in Algerian and French artistic circles, and the afore-mentioned exhibition takes place in 1947. The sixteen-year old Baya flies to Paris alone, lodges with a friend of Madame Caminat (who can't bring herself to accompany her, for fear of running into her ex-husband), is interviewed and paraded around Paris in Algerian costume. Her fresh, colorful paintings elicit much praise from the likes of Andre Breton and Albert Camus. But does all this attention stem from appreciation, or is it colonial condescension? It's not even clear how well Baya, who had spent years speaking Arabic, then Kabil, then Arabic again, spoke French and thus how many of the stories in the newspapers came directly from her, vs. from the Galerie Maeght's publicity machine. This relatively short period in Baya's life takes up most of the book, possibly because it is better documented than her early years in Algeria.
This period of being a celebrated artist lasts only a few years. In 1952 Baya turns 21, and according to local Muslim law, she has to leave Mme Caminat and live with a Muslim family, which promptly marries her to a much older musician. From then until 1963 Baya does not paint, does not grant interviews. Is she totally taken up by her growing family? Does her husband not want her to paint? This book has no answers, probably because Baya herself never talked about it and her children, if they know the answer, didn't confide in Alice Kaplan.
Baya lived until 1998 and is a celebrated artist in Algeria, but the book doesn't really cover these years.
I also found the writing style inconsistent: sometimes it's written in the present tense, sometimes in the past tense. We return over and over again to the winter of 1947-1948 and Baya's time in Paris. Sometimes the author inserts herself into the narrative, such as when she describes her encounters with Baya's children or daughter-in-law.
Bottom line: I'm glad to have discovered this artist, but ultimately the book was a little disappointing to me.
Two stars because the book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It seems the author embarked on a straightforward biography project, but ran into the problem of insufficient, or unreliable documentation, decided to focus on one well-documented episode in the life of Baya (her 1947 show at the prestigious Galerie Maeght, with Le Tout-Paris in attendance,) realized that this was still a bit thin, and threw in some thoughts about colonialism into the mix to eke out 150 pages.
What we learn is that Baya was born in Algeria in 1931, lost first her father, then her mother, lived in the care of her grandmother, worked as a farm worker on a flower farm belonging to a French colonial, and was "discovered" as a 14-year artistic prodigy by the farmer's sister-in-law, herself an amateur artist. An arrangement is arrived at whereby Baya goes to live with Madame Caminat, partially as domestic servant, partially as artistic protegee. Madame Caminat is well connected in Algerian and French artistic circles, and the afore-mentioned exhibition takes place in 1947. The sixteen-year old Baya flies to Paris alone, lodges with a friend of Madame Caminat (who can't bring herself to accompany her, for fear of running into her ex-husband), is interviewed and paraded around Paris in Algerian costume. Her fresh, colorful paintings elicit much praise from the likes of Andre Breton and Albert Camus. But does all this attention stem from appreciation, or is it colonial condescension? It's not even clear how well Baya, who had spent years speaking Arabic, then Kabil, then Arabic again, spoke French and thus how many of the stories in the newspapers came directly from her, vs. from the Galerie Maeght's publicity machine. This relatively short period in Baya's life takes up most of the book, possibly because it is better documented than her early years in Algeria.
This period of being a celebrated artist lasts only a few years. In 1952 Baya turns 21, and according to local Muslim law, she has to leave Mme Caminat and live with a Muslim family, which promptly marries her to a much older musician. From then until 1963 Baya does not paint, does not grant interviews. Is she totally taken up by her growing family? Does her husband not want her to paint? This book has no answers, probably because Baya herself never talked about it and her children, if they know the answer, didn't confide in Alice Kaplan.
Baya lived until 1998 and is a celebrated artist in Algeria, but the book doesn't really cover these years.
I also found the writing style inconsistent: sometimes it's written in the present tense, sometimes in the past tense. We return over and over again to the winter of 1947-1948 and Baya's time in Paris. Sometimes the author inserts herself into the narrative, such as when she describes her encounters with Baya's children or daughter-in-law.
Bottom line: I'm glad to have discovered this artist, but ultimately the book was a little disappointing to me.
Read
November 4, 2024This book was a revelation to me. In spite of my many years studying art history, I’d never come across this remarkable artist before, and I am so glad to have now discovered her. Baya Mahieddine, usually known simply as Baya, was born poor in a small town near Algiers in occupied Algeria in 1931. Orphaned at age 5 she lived with her grandmother until she was “discovered” by artist and art collector Marguerite Caminot Benhoura who recognised Baya’s natural talent and launched her on her career. In 1945 French art dealer Aimé Maeght came across her work and organised her first exhibition at his gallery in Paris in 1947. Baya was just 16. In spite of rubbing shoulders with the likes of Picasso, Breton and Dubuffet, she was overlooked and not considered a serious artist. This wasn’t helped by the fact that not long afterwards she married and returned to Algeria where her time was mostly taken up with her family. She continued to paint, but never again had such acclaim. Even today she has an ambivalent reputation in her native Algeria, although she is far more celebrated there and in France and the Middle East than she is in the west. This wonderfully illustrated book is an excellent introduction to her life and work, and surely Baya fully deserves to be re-discovered. This is the first biography of her and I hope will bring her to the wider public. The colonial and historical background is fully explored, placing Baya in her art historical context. A must read for all art lovers.
Read
September 2, 2024Thank you to Netgalley and the University of Chicago Press for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review
This is the first biography of 20th century Algerian artist Baya. Unfortunately, I could not finish the book due to a file issue, which I already tried to fix once but now I lost all access to the book. I could read 14% and I enjoyed this beginning but obviously it's not really much of a review. I had heard of Baya before and it's a shame she has little recognition (the author mentions only her home country, Algeria, celebrates her). So, I'm glad there is finally a written biography so that, hopefully, people will learn a little bit about her and her paintings.
This is the first biography of 20th century Algerian artist Baya. Unfortunately, I could not finish the book due to a file issue, which I already tried to fix once but now I lost all access to the book. I could read 14% and I enjoyed this beginning but obviously it's not really much of a review. I had heard of Baya before and it's a shame she has little recognition (the author mentions only her home country, Algeria, celebrates her). So, I'm glad there is finally a written biography so that, hopefully, people will learn a little bit about her and her paintings.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews