Eli Kyeyune (Ugandan, born 1936)
Portrait, 1975
Signed ‘Eli Kyeyune’ (middle right)
Oil on hardboard
36 x 28 cm
Ksh 295,000-350,000
US$ 3,300-4,000
Sold post-auction
Provenance: Klaus Betz collection
Kyeyune attended the Makerere School of Fine Arts in Kampala from 1959 to 1962. In 1965, He joined Elimo Njau at the Chemi Chemi Cultural Centre in Nairobi where he successfully began selling his paintings. He has been recorded as the Treasurer at the first meeting of Community of East African Artists in 1964.
Kyeyune conducted ethnographic research with the Department of History at Makerere. From 1995 to 1998, he lectured in painting and sculpture at the Design Centre, Institute of teachers Education Kyambogo.
Specializing in portraiture, Kyeyune oil paintings have been shown at exhibitions as far back as the Uganda Museum in 1964 and the New Stanley Gallery in Nairobi that closed in 1970.