Lot 35

Joel Oswaggo (Kenyan, born 1944)
Fighting Bulls, undated
Signed ‘J. Oswaggo’ (lower centre)
Inscribed with the title on the reverse
Pastel and graphite on paper
45 x 60 cm
KES 150,000 – 200,000
(US$) 1,200 – 1,600
Provenance: Private collection
Sold KES 199,580

Born in 1944 in South Nyanza, Joel Oswaggo began drawing as a boy, intrigued by the illustrations he saw in schoolbooks and replicating them on the walls of his home. He grew up in a time of significant transition for the Luo people, with Western culture gaining increasing influence. As a young man, Oswaggo worked for a period as a sign board painter in Uganda, before returning home during the regime of Idi Amin in the 1970s. He became part of the group of artists supported and promoted by Gallery Watatu owner, Ruth Schaffner, who recognized the skill and importance of his work, recording and narrating many of the disappearing legends and cultural traditions of his Luo community.

Oswaggo was featured in the seminal exhibition, Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1995 and its accompanying book.