Founded by visionary connoisseur and art trader Seydou Mamadou Keita(1962 – present), this tribal art business has been standing since 1998.

With more than 28 years of dealership experience, we’ve established sturdy relationships with strong collectors and families of some of the most deep-rooted tribes in Africa to ensure we have exclusive access to the most prominent works and tribal antiquities.

African Arte seek to contribute to the elevation and culturalism of African art in occident.  We seek to promote, exchange on African art culture, values and civilization.

African Arte also work with international traders, and fervent reserchers, students in Africa always looking for the most authentic pieces. We can export directly to customers around the world, to art galleries and museums, to exhibitions, and antique shops.

Seydou Mamadou Keita has his origins from Niame, Mali and graduated in engineering, with a specialty in mining geology from the University of Bamako. He emigrated to Portugal in 1986 due to political instability in Mali.

Seydou Keita traveled to Spain after 2 years in Portugal, and spent 7 years there. He met some African counterparts from Kenya and Senegal and  started trading with them. He studied African Art in all its forms, the different tribes, and its culture and history,  and he realized then and there that it was his true calling. He turned this passion into a business. Throughout his experience, he noticed a growing interest from his customers for African Art pieces that are ancient, rare and unique, with a story of ownership, authenticity and provenance; From that moment on, he started curating pieces from various tribes to start his exclusive collection. Most of these pieces come from the enigmatic Dogon people of Mali where he originates.

Seydou Mamadou Keita attended many exhibitions and international art fairs while in Spain, and traveled to other European countries and Americas, where he live for 8 years. While he was selling much more to Portuguese, Russian, and Japanese customers during the fairs and exhibitions, he decided to move back to Portugal and opened his first art shop market in 2003. Over the years he built a strong clientele of collectors, researchers, and dealers, museums and art gallery owners from around the world.