Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow died on Thursday at the age of 81, his family told AFP news agency.
“With his death, he leaves behind dreams and projects that his tired self could not carry out,” his family said.
Born in Dakar in 1935, Sow held his first exhibition in 1987 in the Senegalese capital – his hometown – organized by the French cultural center.
For more than 20 years, he worked as a physiotherapist in and around Paris and Dakar before changing his career in the 1980s.
His most recognized work was a series of life-size sculptures of Nuba wrestlers inspired by the photographs of German film director Leni Riefenstahl.
He also completed sculptures of the Maasai, a tribe in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the Zulu of South Africa.