The Jean Pigozzi African Art Collection
Les admiratrices - 1960
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Les Ambiancaiseur - 1972
50 x 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Molato de Brazza Ville - 1975
30 x 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Moziki - 1965
24 x 18 cm
Gelatin silver print
Quartier Sitas - 1980
30 X 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Studio Naitaga - 1975
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Un Cow-Boy de Léopodville [sic] (Léopoldville Cowboy) - 1958
50 X 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Print given to MoMA in 2019
Une Moziki - No date (60s)
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Autoportrait) - 1975
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Belle de Nuit) - 1960
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les amoureux) - No date (60s)
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les Apollons) - 1958
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les viveurs) - 1960
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Moziki) - 1965
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Studio Lopes) - 1961
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
”Losambo” Barumbo - 1975
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
The prayer to Barumbu
Appollon aux deux femmes - 1978
50 x 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Autoportrait Depara - 1962
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Bana ya classe - 1980
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Four students on Campus
Confidence - No date
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Couple mixte - 1975
40 x 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Devant Afro Negro - 1968
40 x 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Devant l’Afro Negro - 1970
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Embrassade - 1960s
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Famille sénégalaise à Léopodville - 1960
50 x 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Jeune fille congolaise - 1972
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Jeunes appolons - 1960
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Léopoldville at Night - 1964
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Les admiratrices - 1960
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Les Ambiancaiseur - 1972
50 x 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Molato de Brazza Ville - 1975
30 x 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Moziki - 1965
24 x 18 cm
Gelatin silver print
Quartier Sitas - 1980
30 X 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Studio Naitaga - 1975
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Un Cow-Boy de Léopodville [sic] (Léopoldville Cowboy) - 1958
50 X 40 cm
Gelatin silver print
Print given to MoMA in 2019
Une Moziki - No date (60s)
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Autoportrait) - 1975
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Belle de Nuit) - 1960
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les amoureux) - No date (60s)
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les Apollons) - 1958
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Les viveurs) - 1960
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Moziki) - 1965
50 X 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Untitled (Studio Lopes) - 1961
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
”Losambo” Barumbo - 1975
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
The prayer to Barumbu
Appollon aux deux femmes - 1978
50 x 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Autoportrait Depara - 1962
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Bana ya classe - 1980
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Four students on Campus
Confidence - No date
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Couple mixte - 1975
40 x 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Devant Afro Negro - 1968
40 x 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Devant l’Afro Negro - 1970
40 X 30 cm
Gelatin silver print
Embrassade - 1960s
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Famille sénégalaise à Léopodville - 1960
50 x 60 cm
Gelatin silver print
Jeune fille congolaise - 1972
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Jeunes appolons - 1960
60 x 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Léopoldville at Night - 1964
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Les admiratrices - 1960
60 X 50 cm
Gelatin silver print
Jean Depara
Born 1928, Kboklolo, Angola
Died 1997, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Depara came to photography almost by accident. To record his wedding in 1950 he bought himself a small Adox camera—after which he never ceased to seek out new subjects for his lens. Settling in Kinshasa in 1951, Depara at first combined his photography with various small jobs: repairing bicycles and cameras, dealing in scrap metal. In 1954 the celebrated Zairian singer Franco invited him to become his official photographer, launching Depara’s career as a chronicler of Kinshasa social life in the era when the Rumba and the Cha Cha defined the city’s rhythm. He set up a studio under the name Jean Whisky Depara and spent his days in bars like the Kwist, the OK Bar, or the Sarma Congo. At night he hung out at such clubs as the Afro Mogenbo, the Champs-Elysées, the Djambo Djambu, the Oui, the Fifi, the Show Boat. Night owls particularly fascinated him and with his flash Depara captured an Africa stripped of conventional social codes. Interracial couples, hipsters, and those who in imitation of James Dean chose to “Live fast, die young” became both his subjects and his clients.
Among Depara’s themes in his photographs are the Miziki who have such a powerful role in Kinshasa society. These associations of women were rooted in pre-independence traditions, and a Moziki (singular form of Miziki) could act as a banker within her social circle. In the 1950s and 1960s, Miziki associations took such names as La Pause and La Mode, and commissioned famous bands to compose songs for their annual events.
Depara died leaving his archive of hundreds negatives untitled; with the permission of the artist’s family, his close friend Oscar Mbemba has titled the works in the spirit of this era.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011/2012
Depara, night and day in Kinshasa, 1955-1965 Maison Revue Noire, Paris
Les nuits de Kinshasa, Jean Depara, 1955 à 1975, Rencontres africaines, Biennale de la Photographie, Bamako, Mali
2002
De Para
Centre de la Photographie
Geneva - Switzerland
2001
4th Meeting for African Photography
Bamako, Mali.
2000
Noorderlicht 2000 photofestival,
Fries Museum
Leeuwarden, Netherland.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
HERITAGE
Carte Blanche à Omar Victor Diop, Galerie Magnin-A, Paris, France
2017
Autophoto, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
Festival Photo La Gacilly, Morbihan,France
Studio Africa!, Galerie Tristan Hoare, London, UK
2016
Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain
Paris Photo, Grand Palais, Paris, France
Portrait(s), Festival, Vichy, France
2015
Beauté Congo – 1926-2015 – Congo Kitoko, Fondation Cartier, Paris, France
2014/2015
Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Paris Photo, Paris, France
2014
Congo in Harlem, Maysles Cinema, Harlem, NY, USA
Paris Photo, Paris, France
2013
Paris Photo Los Angeles
2011
JapanCongo
Magasin Grenoble, France
2010
African Stories
Marrakech Art Fair, Marrakech
2006/2007
100% Africa
Guggenheim Museum
Bilbao, Spain
2005
Arts of Africa
Grimaldi Forum
Monaco - France
2005
African Art Now : Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Museum of Fine Art Houston
Houston - USA
2004
E la Nave Va « Jours tranquilles à Kinshasa »
MAMCO
Geneva - Switzerland
2000
Africa : Past-Present
Seydou Keita, P.K. Apagya, Depara, C.A. Azaglo and Ojeikere
Fifty One Fine Art Photography
Antwerp - Belgium
1998 - 1999
Eye Africa : African photography 1840-1998
Festival of African photography
SANG
Cape Town – South Africa
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2017
Festival Photo La Gacilly - édition 2017 "I Love Africa", exibition catalogue, pgs 76-81
2015
Amelie Klein, Making Africa - A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum catalogue, pg. 128
2012
Paris Photo vu par David Lynch, Edition Steidl, November 2012, Broché
2011
PhotoBolsillo: Jean Depara, La Fábric, Madrid, April 2011
Broché
2010
Kinshasa – Night and Day, La Fabrica / Edition Revue Noire, Paris - 2010
2006
100% Africa
Exhibition catalogue. Published by TF Editores & FMGB Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.
2005
African Art Now: Masterpieces from the Jean Pigozzi Collection
Exhibition catalogue. Published by Merrell.
2001
Mémoires Intimes d'un Nouveau Millénaire - Intimates Memories of the New
Millenium
(4ème Rencontres de la Photographie africaine, Bamako 2001).
Edited by Eric Koehler.
2000
Noorderlicht 2000 photofestival.
Fries Museum, exhibition catalogue, Depara p.25-32.
Leeuwarden, Netherland.
1998
" L'Eveil d'un regard " Depara
Anthologie de la Photographie Africaine et de l'Océan Indien.
XIXe & XXe Siècles. Texts in French.
Editions : Revue Noire, France.
