Mruta Hashim Bushiri (Tanzanian, 1937-1998)
Untitled (Sea Creatures), undated
Signed ‘H.B. MRUTA’ (lower right)
Enamel paint on board
64 x 60 cm
Ksh 132,000-165,000
(US$ 1,200-1,500)
Sold Ksh 129,140
Provenance: private collection of the Emerson Foundation, Zanzibar
Mruta Hashim Bushiri was a retired police officer in Dar es Salaam at the time his cousin E.S. Tingatinga started to paint. Already having five students, Tingatinga was reluctant to take on any more so instead Mruta observed the painting process taking place in the lessons and went home to experiment with what he had seen.
With time Mruta became a well-known Tingatinga painter, and after E.S. Tingatinga’s death, was one of the founders of the Tingatinga Partnership, going on to teach many of his own students.
In 1991 Mruta was commissioned to paint a wall mural in Copenhagen as part of the Images of Africa Festival for which he won a prize.