Papa Ibra Tall

Papa Ibra Tall (1935–2015) was a Senegalese tapestry weaver, painter, and illustrator. He is known for his role in the Dakar School art movement, His artistic career began with oil painting under the tutelage of amateur French painters in Dakar. In 1955, he studied architecture at the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris, where he was exposed to the Négritude movement and provided illustrations for the Présence Africaine. He later attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts and pursued instruction in Sèvres. With the assistance of the first Senegalese president Léopold Sédar Senghor, he studied painting, serigraphy, tapestry, mosaics, and comparative pedagogy at Sèvres. He was instrumental in the École de Dakar art movement, which started at the same time. He headed the Section de Recherches en Arts Plastiques Nègres at the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Dakar. In his instruction, he sought to encourage the development of an "identifiable" Pan-African idiom, and preferred not to provide formal instruction for fear it would block what he believed to be the natural artistic creativity of African artists. Tall, N'Diaye and several other artists' work in the show engaged with the theories and artistic elements of the Négritude and Pan-Africanism movements. Tall saw Négritude and its separation from Western artistic standards as a way for African artists to define their own artistic language and standards.

One of his students was Seydou Barry.

Exhibitions 8th São Paulo Art Biennial, Brazil, 1965.