Eli Kyeyune (Ugandan, born 1936)
Untitled, 1970
Signed ‘Eli Kyeyune ‘70’ (lower right)
Oil on board
61 x 45 cm
Ksh 363,000-550,000
(US$ 3,300-5,000)
Sold Ksh 1,643,600
Provenance: private collection
After graduating from Makerere School of Fine Arts in Kampala in 1962, Eli Kyeyune came to Nairobi where he joined Elimo Njau at the Chemi Chemi Cultural Centre and successfully began selling his paintings. He has been recorded as the Treasurer at the first meeting of the Community of East African Artists in 1964.
Returning to Uganda, Kyeyune conducted ethnographic research with the Department of History at Makerere, and from 1995 to 1998 he lectured in painting and sculpture at the Design Centre, Institute of Teachers Education, Kyambogo.
Specializing in portraiture, Kyeyune’s 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. He is in many private and museum collections including the late Joseph Murumbi’s (Kenya’s first Vice President) collection at the Kenya National Archives.
This is an extremely rare, very early painting of Kyeyune, recently returned from the USA to Kenya for this auction.