Lot 28

Simon Mpata

Tanzanian, 1940-1982

Untitled (Hairdressing Day), undated

Signed ‘S.G. Mpata’ (lower left)

Enamel paint on board

64 x 64 cm

KES 264,000 – 308,000

USD 2,400 – 2,800

Provenance: private collection of the Emerson Foundation, Zanzibar

Sold KES 258,280

Simon Mpata is the youngest half-brother of E.S. Tingatinga. Mpata learnt to paint from his brother and is generally viewed as the artist who kept his style the closest to Tingatinga’s. After Tingatinga’s death, Mpata left Tanzania to open a studio in Nairobi where he lived and worked until his death in 1982.

Mpata’s work has been extensively collected and shown in numerous exhibitions worldwide.