
Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
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Provenance
Acquired at Paa Ya Paa Gallery, c. 1965-68;
A private collection.
Expressively abstract, the present lot is a unique work produced by the artist when viewed comparatively against Elimo Njau's oeuvre. Often depicting biblical and historical stories of Kenya's struggle for liberation, his most famous work depicting the bravery of the victims of the Mau Mau Uprising in a commissioned public mural.
Originality was of high importance to the artist and became more so in the wake of independence. As a contributor to the Nation Newspaper, Njau wrote:
"Many of us move lock, stock and barrel to the Western style. We uproot ourselves and our creativity becomes just a few spices on the white man's plate. But art should be a way of life, enriching us, nourishing us in body and spirit, and growing from the African soil of which we are a part." (Elimo Njau, National edition, 31st July 1988).
A champion of the arts of East Africa, Njau founded the Kibos Art Centre in 1964 near his home in Marangu in Tanzania and the Paa-Ya-Paa (The Antelope Rises) Gallery in Nairobi in 1965. This was the first art centre in East Africa that was African owned and was a highly significant forum for arts and culture in the wake of colonial liberation and Kenyan independence in 1963.
Bibliography
Lennox Khatili, 'Elimo Njau', ARTENEFITS: Creative Visual Legacy Work, (online article).