Lot 43

Zachariah Mbutha (Kenyan born 1948)
Untitled, undated (ed. AP 4/5)
Signed ‘Z. Mbutha’ (lower right)
Etching on paper
20 x 15 cm
KES 40,000 – 80,000
(US$) 320 – 640
Provenance: Private collection
Sold KES 70,440

Mbutha studied at a teacher training college and worked as a teacher for many years before becoming headmaster of a primary school in Nakuru. In 1979, he resigned to become a full-time artist. Without formal education in the arts, his paintings were experimental, inspired by books he found on modern art. In the 1980s he was introduced to Gallery Watatu and became one of the gallery’s most popular artists. Unlike many of his fellow artists from that period,

Mbutha is still actively painting and exhibiting. Mbutha’s paintings are social commentaries on everyday Kenyan life and the relationships between humans and humans and animals.