Lot 34
Tabitha Wa Thuku
Kenyan, born 1963
Blooming, 2015
Signed ‘tabitha wa thuku’ (lower right)
Oil on canvas
142.2 x 142.2 cm
Ksh 350,000 – 550,000
(US$) 3,700 – 5,700
Provenance: Direct from the artist
Sold Ksh 352,200
Born in the year of Independence, Tabitha Wa Thuku began her creative practice as a young, self-taught artist and one of the only female artists of her generation. With a career approaching three decades, Wa Thuku has made a name for herself as a painter unencumbered by convention, distinguished by a bold, varied palette and exuberant forms, as demonstrated in this painting.
From 1996–99 she attended the Buru Buru Institute of Fine Arts and has undertaken various workshops to develop a wide range of techniques, demonstrated in her extensive body of work.
Wa Thuku has exhibited regularly throughout her career in Kenya and abroad, including in The Netherlands, Italy, Hong Kong and Denmark, and her work is included in private and public collections in Kenya, including those of the National Museum of Kenya, the Safaricom collection, PwC and MMC Africa Law.