Lot 17

Eli Kyeyune (Ugandan, 1936 – 2000)
Untitled (The Reader), 1974
Unsigned
Oil on hardboard
45 x 27 cm
KES 1,300,000 – 1,500,000
(US$) 10,400 – 12,000
Provenance: Private collection
Sold KES 1,526,200

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. 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.

Kyeyune’s works have increased in collectability in the past years. They have consistently been some of our auction’s most successful lots and are becoming ever harder to find. This painting shows Kyeyune’s painterly skills at the height of his career.