Long-lost picture archive celebrates glamour of 1950s Senegal

A wedding party crams into a small car. Sharply-dressed men pose for the camera in a nightclub. A short-haired woman stands over a Vespa in a patterned dress and sunglasses.

Roger DaSilva’s glamorous photos of 1950s and 1960s Senegal may have been shot in black and white, but they are alive with color.

Now, a new selection of the late photographer’s images has been brought to light, after 75,000 of his long-lost negatives were found at his home. They paint a vibrant, celebratory picture of life in the West African country as it headed towards independence from colonial France.

A car parked up outside Roger DaSilva's studio in Dakar.

Men pose for DaSilva at a nightclub in 1952.

Dancers in a nightclub in 1952.

A wedding party in Senegal pictured in 1962.

A woman poses on a car in Senegal's streets in 1958.

A boxing club in Dakar, 1952.

Senegalese politician Lamine Guèye pictured in 1952.

A woman poses with a Vespa in 1961, the year after Senegal's independence.

"When we know about Roger DaSilva ... is that he was, by instinct, drawn to the human smile," said executive director of Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Nicholas Fox Weber.

A band in action at a 1952 show.

DaSilva is pictured shaking hands with jazz legend Velma Middleton.

DaSilva documented nightclubs and high-society parties in Senegal, where he settled in 1947.

A scene from Dakar's streets from 1952.

Among the discoveries was a picture of Senegal's first post-independence president, Leopold Senghor.

Many of the 75,000 negatives found were shots from DaSilva's studio in Dakar.

Jazz musician Louis Armstrong pictured in 1966.

Long-lost photo archive celebrates glamour of 1950s Senegal

Prev