Francis Nnaggenda (Ugandan, born 1936)
Return or no Return, 2013
Signed ‘Nnaggenda 2013’ (lower right)
Oil on canvas
118 x 63.5cm
Ksh 217,000-250,000
US$ 2,465-2,840
Sold Ksh 258,280
Provenance: direct from the artist through Nairobi Gallery
Francis Nnaggenda was raised in Buganda, central Uganda. During the era of Idi Amin, he went into exile and studied art in Germany and France. He is a former head of the Department of Sculpture at Makerere University and attended Freibourg University in Switzerland and Bayerische Akademie der Schonen Kunste in Germany.
In 1968, he moved to Kenya where he taught art at the University of Nairobi. During this time he met Joseph Murumbi, Kenya’s second vice president who was an admirer of his artwork and one of his first collectors. Nnaggenda sculpture ‘Mother and Child’ is a landmark outside the Nairobi National Museum.
Nnaggenda is recognised as one of the most important artists of his generation in East Africa, his expressionistic work, especially sculptures, have drawn considerable acclaim. He is still practicing at 74 and is one of the selected artists of KLA ART 014, Kampala Contemporary Art Festival 2014.