Battling Siki, Tampidaro's Painting of the Boxer

"Battling Siki" is a painting by Tampidaro, mixed acrylic at 150 x 110 cm made in 2025, which carries the name of the boxer born Amadou M'Barick Fall in Saint-Louis in 1897, who became world light heavyweight champion in 1922. The work is available at Ge'eza's gallery, with the price given on request from its page.

Who Battling Siki was, in established facts

Amadou M'Barick Fall, known as Battling Siki, was born in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 1897, with most sources giving the date as 16 September. Decorated during the First World War, he turned professional boxer and, on 24 September 1922 in Paris, won the world light heavyweight title by beating Georges Carpentier. He was then the first world boxing champion born on the African continent. He lost the title the following year, 1923, in Dublin. Battling Siki was killed in New York in December 1925, and his remains were repatriated to Senegal in 1993. These facts, widely documented, are enough to understand why his name remains a reference point in Senegalese sporting memory, with nothing added beyond what is well established.

That run through Paris and Dublin also points to a chapter of early 20th-century international boxing, where fighters from different continents met on the same European rings, in a sporting and social context that goes well beyond Battling Siki's individual story alone. It is a reference point often cited when discussing the earliest world champions not from Europe or the United States.

A painting, a name, a subject

Tampidaro chose this name for one of his paintings, in mixed acrylic, 150 x 110 cm, made in 2025. Choosing such a subject, among other paintings by the artist devoted to urban Dakar, to roundabouts or to Saint-Louis, shows an interest in the figures and places that make up part of Senegalese collective memory, handled here through painting rather than narrative. The page for the work, "Battling Siki", gives the full technique, size, year and status of the painting, with a photograph.

The 150 x 110 cm format

This size, close to a vertical rectangle, sits between the artist's smallest canvases and his largest squares. It needs a wall of reasonable width, with enough clearance on each side, and suits either a vertical hang or a wider orientation depending on the room. Standing back around two metres allows a first overall read of the painting before moving closer to study the texture of the mixed acrylic.

Tampidaro's mixed acrylic

As with the rest of his current body of work, Tampidaro made "Battling Siki" in mixed acrylic, a technique that layers several coats and media to build a dense surface. This approach, consistent across his paintings, appears as much in his street scenes as in subjects tied to memory, like this one.

One subject among other figures and places of memory

Tampidaro does not stop at a single historical figure in his work. Other paintings by the artist take up Saint-Louis itself, the town where Battling Siki was born, treated as a subject of painting through separate titles such as "Saint-Louis" and "Le radeau de Saint-Louis." Together, these paintings trace an interest in the places and figures that make up part of Senegalese memory, each handled as its own canvas rather than folded into a single narrative.

Caring for this painting

A mixed acrylic canvas is cared for like any acrylic painting: kept away from direct sunlight, which dulls colour over time, in a room with stable humidity, dusted with a dry, soft cloth rather than any kind of cleaning product. These simple precautions are usually enough to keep a painting in good condition for decades.

A subject, not a biography of the artist

As with other historical or cultural subjects taken up at the gallery, it is worth being clear: painting "Battling Siki" says nothing about Tampidaro's own life, upbringing or background. The boxer's story belongs to shared Senegalese sporting history, and the painting treats it as a subject in the same way it treats a roundabout or a market, a place or a figure chosen for what it represents collectively, not for any personal connection to the artist.

Tampidaro at the gallery

Tampidaro has been shown at Ge'eza's gallery since the "Lien commun" exhibition in October 2025. His artist page brings together his full body of paintings, largely devoted to urban Dakar, to Saint-Louis, and to figures such as Battling Siki, always handled without any biography invented beyond the widely established facts.

Asking for a price and coming to see the painting

The price of this work is given on request from its page, or directly on WhatsApp at +221 78 660 07 07, or by email to geezacultures@gmail.com, naming the exact title. The team replies with the price, the technical details and the certificate of authenticity that travels with every work sold. The gallery can be visited without an appointment, Tuesday to Sunday, 8am to 10pm, during the same hours as the restaurant, at 656 avenue Birago Diop, Point E.