A forum where East African fine art history and learning converge.
Joseph Anthony Zurzate Murumbi (1911 – 1990) From Politician to Art Collector Does the name Joseph Zurzate Murumbi ring a bell? Perhaps not. Save for his position as the second vice-president of Kenya after independence, not many are aware of his legacy as the custodian of Kenya’s pre-independence political machinations and its post-colonial cultural heritage. […]
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In the South Western Highland region of Kenya, there lives a Gusii-speaking people of Bantu heritage. Domiciled in the Tabaka region of this highland area is the Mugirango clan which boasts over three centuries of soapstone carving heritage. We have this cultural heritage to thank for the authentic Kenyan sculptural legend – Elkanah Ong’esa.
Elkana Omweri Ong’esa 1944 – Present Read More »
Joel Oswaggo 1944 – Present Documenting Luo Cultural Heritage: Joel Oswaggo’s Way To state that pre-colonial African traditions are absent from East Afrika’s contemporary manifestation of modernist art is to deny Joel Oswaggo a place in the annals of East Afrikan fine art. Witness the artist, in his interviews with Johanna Agthe, articulating his representation
Prof. Gregory Paul Maloba 1922 – 2004 Gregory Maloba as a student at Margaret Trowell School, 1937. Courtesy 90.mak.ac.ug In 1962, the artist and academic Gregory Maloba appeared in an interview for the Transition – a literary magazine first published in Kampala in 1961 by a Ugandan of Indian origin named Rajat Neogy (interviewer). In
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Jak Katarikawe 1940 – 2018 A Self-Taught Effortless Style of Dream-Infused Visual Story-Telling Jak Katarikawe at Gallery Watatu, 2006. Courtesy Margareta Wa Gacheru Jak Karatikawe was every expatriate’s African artist of interest, known for his pastoral storytelling and whimsical erotic compositions on canvas. Dubbed as the Africa’s Chargall for his artworks’ resemblance to Marc Chagall’s
Elimo Njau 1932 – Present Elimo Njau painting outdoors To write about Elimo Njau is to appreciate the vision of Pan Afrikanism (consider for a moment visual art’s role in driving political discourse). The 2006 unveiling of his five legendary murals at the St. James Anglican Cathedral in Kiharu, Murang’a was particularly revealing of the
Dame Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo 1950 – Present Magdalene Odundo Magdalene Odundo, the contemporary super ceramicist, talented, amazingly cheerful and master of her domain. She’s a Kenyan-born British ceramicist with origins from Western Kenya but grew up in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya. During her young years, she would live a brief spell in
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John Njenga Kamau aka “Wanyu Brush” 1947 – Present Wanyu Brush Stored at the Journalism Department at California State University, Northridge are 10 paintings created by the legendary artist, John Njenga aka Wanyu Brush. Characterised as paintings that represent the time that he was most prolific, Prof David Blumencrantz from the institution revealed, “Our
Sane Wadu (Walter Njuguna Mbugua) 1954 – Present The Eloquence of a Self-Developed Visual Style – Invent and Play by Your Own Rules Sane Wadu. Courtesy OnArt Media Internationally, he is hailed as one of East Africa’s Big Three artists of the first-generation along with Jak Karatikawe and Wanyu Brush. Within Nairobi’s art circles of
Richard Onyango 1960 – Present The Afterlives of Experiences Richard Onyango. Courtesy Capitolium Art Born in 1960 in what is now Kisii county, Onyango was barely a toddler when his family relocated to Tana River after his father found a job with the National Irrigation Board in 1961. It was his upbringing in Malindi, then
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