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| Senegal Glass Painting |
The Senegalese under glass painting so called “fixé under glass” and “souwere” in wolof came to Senegal fom the Arabic countries through Tunisia with the return of muslim pilgrims from “La Mecque” at the end of the XIXth century.
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| Senegal Glass Painting |
Initially, the topics related to Senegal glass painting are based on religious themes linked to local Islam : traditions (rituals and stories), brotherhoods (witchdoctor) and daily scenes (coranic school), and they tend to move into Senegalese history, most of the time linked to colonialisation, and into profane field such as portraits – scenes of daily life, and popular wisdom.
This art might look like a painting covered by a glass. But this is not the case. The glass itself is painted and used as a support to the painting similar to paper, canvas or wood. It is at the same time the support and the protective coat of the painting which is carried out on the back of the glass and then, seen by transparency.
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| Senegal Glass Painting |
The making of a souwere requires first to clean and to remove the grease of the glass plate. The drawing is performed either on paper and then transferred on the glass, or directly on the glass with a feather or a thin brush with black painting, setting the limits of the surface which will be coloured later on.
Glass painting is also known as "reverse glass painting," which more closely describes the technique used to produce it. With reverse glass painting, the artist is working on the back of the glass, which is the opposite of what a painter would do on canvas. He must work backwards to create the work. Facial expressions and details are painted on first, and background scenes are applied last.
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| Senegal Glass Painting |
Any details : inscriptions, signature of the artist or details which are added at the end of the work on another kind of support, must be drawn at the beginning and then reversed to appear at the first level and right side out. Finally, a last coat of painting is applied covering the whole glass plate : parts remaining blank like the ones already painted and dry in order to finalize the drawing. It is important to notice that Bass has used other materials in the same drawing such as sand and Indian ink (men and women portraits). Sometimes, he has underlined the transparency of glass, avoiding to cover it (“les enfants talibés).
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