The Case for Art Made Backwards

In Saint-Louis workshops, the highlights come first — the outlines nobody ever sees come last.

Walk into Ousmane Sow's studio on Rue Blanchot and the first thing you notice is the silence. No music, no radio — just the soft tap of a hog-bristle brush against the back of a sheet of glass. He is painting Cheikh Amadou Bamba, beginning as always with the whites of the eyes.

A Tradition Painted in Reverse

The sous-verre technique arrived in Saint-Louis in the 1920s, carried by returning soldiers who had seen similar work in Morocco and Algeria. Within a decade, the Mouride brotherhood had embraced the form for devotional images — marabout portraits, Quranic verses in gold and kohl, scenes of daily life along the Senegal River.

“You must know the painting before you make the first mark. Because that first mark — the highlight — is the one the viewer sees last.” — Ousmane Sow, Saint-Louis