David Mzuguno (Tanzanian, 1951- 2010)
Cut One Plant More (Save the Forest), 1989
Signed ‘By Dvd Mzuguno 1989’ (lower right)
Acrylic on board
61 x 61 cm
Ksh 290,000 – 420,000
(US$) 2,200 – 3,200
Provenance: Private collection, the previous owner bought it directly from the artist.
Sold Ksh 225,400
During his lifetime, David Mzuguno was widely regarded as one of the leading Tingatinga painters of the time. He began his career in the arts with the Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society, where he started to develop an approach quite different from the other painters. In 1989 he left to pursue his own technique, taking the collective style in a new direction.
The opulent depictions of the natural world in Mzuguno’s paintings are inspired by his roots in the Kilimanjaro region where he was born. In 2009, he participated in a residency programme in China at the Shenzhen Fine Art Institute. He died in 2010, shortly after a very successful exhibition in Kampala. In 2013 Mzuguno’s work was shown in a solo exhibition at the Alliance Française in Dar es Salaam. A book about Mzunguno was published by Mkuki Nanyota Publishers Ltd, Tanzania, ‘David Mzuguno – The Last Days of the Master in 2013, written by Pascal Bogaert.