Lot 35

Raza Mohammed (Tanzanian, born 1946)
African Motif, 2001
Signed ‘RAZA 27.2.2001’ (lower right)
Mixed media on paper
64.5 x 100 cm
Ksh 225,000 – 315,000
(US$) 2,000 – 2,800
Provenance: direct from the artist

Sold Ksh 258,280

Raza Mohammed was born in Tanzania but moved to Mombasa, Kenya as a child, where the art lessons he took at secondary school made a lasting impression on him. On his return to Tanzania, Mohammed began working as a painter, graphic designer, book illustrator and stamp designer, and by the 1980s had emerged as one of a new generation of revered Tanzanian artists.

Through a practice of painterly experimentation and technical refinement, Mohammed has developed a sophisticated form of fragmentary abstraction, his paintings exuding both an intense sculptural power and a transient flow of light and motion.

Mohammed was selected to go to the USA with the Crossroad Africa Operation, an event showcasing the work of several African artists. He has been commissioned to paint portraits of four Tanzanian Presidents and was also invited to Moscow to produce medals for high-ranking army officers who had served in the resisting Ugandan Army during Idi Amin’s regime.