"Baya's colourful mélange of surreal, childlike imagery, rich in symbols and ornamentations from her Arab-Berber origins."
Self-taught Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine was born in 1931 and died in 1998. As an adolescent, Baya was encouraged by a French couple, living in Algeria, to pursue art. Fabled gallerist Aimé Maeght and writer André Breton, organized her first exhibition in Paris in 1947 at the age of sixteen. Baya's colourful mélange of surreal, childlike imagery, rich in symbols and ornamentations from her Arab-Berber origins drew the attention of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso, with whom she later collaborated in his renowned studio in Vallauris. Since, her work has been exhibited extensively in various museums and galleries. In 1982, Baya had an exhibition at the Museum Cantini in Marseilles inaugurated by French President François Mitterrand. In July 1987, she was honored by Algerian president Chadli. In 2018, Grey Art Gallery at New York University organized her first North American exhibition “Baya: Woman of Algiers”. Baya’s work is the subject of various publications and her works can be found in numerous public and private collections worldwide.