Elias Jengo (Tanzanian, born 1936)
Ngoma (Drummer), 2006
Signed ‘EJengo ‘06’ (lower left)
Oil on canvas
51 x 38 cm
Ksh 90,000–135,000
(US$ 820–1,200)
Sold Ksh 105,660
Provenance: private collection
Painter and scholar, Professor Elias Jengo is one of Tanzania’s most influential artists from the post-Independence era. He trained as an arts educator at Makerere University, Kampala and Kent State University in Ohio before completing his postgraduate studies at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University), in Montreal. Jengo taught in the department of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Dar es Salaam for many years where he shaped a generation of young artists.
Since the 1960s Jengo’s paintings have regularly featured in exhibitions internationally. His works and commissions can be seen in public institutions and spaces across Tanzania. From 2004–05 Jengo was a Fulbright scholar-in-residence at Kent State University at Stark, Ohio.