Jak Katarikawe (Ugandan, born 1938)
Untitled, circa 1975–80
signed ‘JAK KATARIKAWE’ (lower middle)
oil on canvas
64 x 51cm
Ksh 750,000–900,000
US$ 8,520–10,200
Sold Ksh 880,500
Provenance: Private Collection, originally from the Collection of Ruth Shaffner, acquired from her husband by the current owner.
Ugandan born Katarikawe has lived and worked in Nairobi for most of his life. He is a self-taught artist who gained huge exposure through Ruth Schaffner at Gallery Watatu in Nairobi. Today he is one of East Africa’s most successful painters and perhaps one of its best known, widely collected both locally and internationally. Katarikawe spent much of his childhood in Uganda tending his father’s animals and has consistently painted the drama and dreams of village life, where man and creature co-exist and converse, often on an equal footing.
Katarikawe’s work has been exhibited worldwide. His importance was acknowledged on publication of a catalogue by Joanna Agthe and Elsbeth Court in 2001 that accompanied a retrospective touring exhibition in Germany. A subsequent retrospective was held at the National Museums of Kenya in 2005 showing some of the extensive Katarikawe collection owned by Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt.