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A man of power may be
wrong, but he is always right - Bambara of West Africa proverb
Kivuthi
Mbuno
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September 2007 - Mbuno and Todd
in Gallery Watatu - eight years after photos at right!
Note: The colors in this photo are much closer to
realistic than the image of the same painting below. |
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| September 2007 - Mbuno and his
now older son Titus in Gallery Watatu on the same visit. (see photos right) |
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Sept 1999 - Mbuno
and Todd in Sultan Hamoud,
the area where Mbuno and
his family reside. |
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Sept '99 - Mbuno and
his young son Titus |
Kivuthi Mbuno is
easily the most acclaimed artist who's paintings are posted on this web page. He
is prominently featured in many books on African art and artists, including
"Contemporary Art of Africa"
(Magnin
and Soulillou), and "African Explorers - 20th Century African Art"
(Vogel).
Each of these books display three full-color pictures of his paintings if you
are interested in seeing more of his work.
Below is an excerpt from "Contemporary Art of
Africa", pg.44:
"In his early days, Kivuthi
Mbuno worked as a chef on safaris, which led him to travel, primarily into
interior Kenya and Tanzania. This is how he came to know nature and it's wild
fauna and to maintain the close relationship with them that was to mark him
deeply. In 1976, his ties with the family of Baroness
Karen Blixen (better known
by her nom de plume, Isak Dinesen) led him to settle in Langata, where from then
on he devoted himself exclusively to drawing...Mbuno gives himself to nature and
shows us the extraordinary in what is commonplace. In a precise drawing style -
using ink, colored pencils, and pastels - he combines animals, humans, objects
of traditional life, and huge spaces. This is his vocabulary, and it has not
changed in almost twenty years.
The model in the artist's mind comes
closer to the supernatural than the natural. We would be wrong to believe in one
ancestral vision or to see in his work the mark of primitive naïveté The artist
himself explains that what he wants to paint is less the reality than the idea
he has of nature in a sort of Eden-like era. For him, beauty merges with the
lovely harmony of people with their natural environment, and he feels that this
way of being in the world might be called "being inside beauty."
Mbuno's extraordinary paintings have been picked
several times to represent Kenya in Pan-African art exhibitions. Combining his
fine aesthetic sense with the stories and myths of his Wakamba people, Mbuno is
able to produce paintings that are both beautiful and symbolically potent.
The combination of the size of his
paintings, the bright vivid colors, and his bizarre interpretation of nature, man, and
animals - living, fighting, and dieing together - all on a plain of wide spaces
and solid colors, is what attracts one to his paintings. They are what I would call 'focal
points', adding both color and a point of interest to any room. When you
consider the size of his paintings, and then add a matt and frame, they can become
incredibly impressive and dramatic. (right - Mbuno and your host!)
Mbuno's paintings have been
exhibited in Japan, Paris, New York, Frankfurt, Nairobi - all around the world
(see below) - and now they are featured
on the pages of Inside African Art - and can be yours!
Mbuno Exhibitions (not recently updated)
1988
Galleria Watatu - Nairobi, Kenya
1990 “Into the Nineties”, Galleria Watatu - Nairobi, Kenya
“Africa Now”, Saatchi Collection, London, United Kingdom
“Kunst uit Kenya”, T.U. Eindhoven Galleria Watatu, Nairobi, Kenya
Galerie Zimmermann und Franken, Mönchengladbach, Germany
1991 "Africa Explores. 20th Century African Art", Center of African
Art, New York, U.S.A.
"Mit Pinsel und Meißel. Zeitgenössische Afrikanische Kunst", Museum
für Völkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
"Custodians View, African Animals by Africans", Galleria Watatu,
Nairobi
1992 "Rafiki Wa Zamadi", Galleria Watatu, Nairobi, Kenya
"Kenya Art Panorama", French Cultural Center, Nairobi, Kenya
1993 "Entdeckung. Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Ostafrika", Stadtmuseum
Ludwigshafen, Germany
"African Contemporary Art Show", Galleria Parco - Tokyo, Nagoya, Japan
1994
"Rencontres africaines", Musée de l’Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris,
France
1996 "Africaanse kunst bestaat niet", Stadsgalerie Heerlen, Germany
2001 "Anima tribale, corpo metropolitano. Arte e fotografia africana
contemporanea", Galleria Spazia, Bologna, Milano, Italy
2002 “Animal Tribale, corpo metropolitano”, Pescheria Nuova, Comune di
Rovigo, Italy
Update - 6 November
2007: Four incredible new Mbunos are now available! The one at the
far right is very rare and only one of three Mbuno paintings ever to portray a
'mzungu', or white person/European. Note the vested safari suit. On close
inspection you will find that Mbuno's African characters who are always living
in harmony with the animals in his paintings have deep red eyes, the mzungu's
eyes are a pale blue. It is also revealing that the mzungu is carrying a symbol
of everything that is against and a threat to animals, a gun.
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Title: Crossing the River
Dimensions: 24" x 17.25" (61 x 44cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Price: $425 Sold! 26 Feb '08 and on its way
to Italy to join the classics! |
Title: On Leopard
Dimensions: 38" x 25" (96 x 64cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Price: $675 (see photo
above left)
SOLD! 27 Nov '07
To an Africanist in Australia! |
Title: Follow Giraffe
Dimensions: 38" x 25" (96 x 64cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Price: $675 |
Title: Mzungu Takes Milk
Dimensions:15" x 10" (38 x 25cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Price: $900
Very rare Mbuno with
depiction of 'mzungu' or white person/European. Possibly last one anywhere. |
3 July 2007 -
More Mbunos! The paintings and dimensions are here! Sorry it took
so long to post.
Be the first to
Make an Offer!
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Title: Fighting
Leopard
Dimensions: 36" x 23.5" (92 x 60 cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Sold! 9 July '07
To a huge Mbuno fan in Italia! |
Title: On
Elephant
Dimensions: 36" x 23.5" (92 x 60 cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Sold! 27 July '07 - It's on its way to
France! |
Title: Feeding
Zebra
Dimensions: 21" x 15" (53 x 38cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Price: $425 SOLD! 23rd Oct 2008-Thanks! |
Title: Feeding
Elephant
Dimensions: 21" x 15" (53 x 38cm)
Medium: Ink and colored pencil
on heavy paper
Sold! 9 July '07
To a huge Mbuno fan in Italia! |
17 July 2006-
Mbuno has sold out!
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Kilinga |
On Forest |
Snake and Lioness |
Elephant's Meeting |
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29" x 18.5" |
34" x 24" (96 x 61 cm) |
34" x 24" (96 x 61cm) |
14" x 9" |
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Ink, colored pencil, pastel,
on heavy paper |
Ink, colored pencil, pastel, on heavy paper |
Ink, colored pencil, pastel, on heavy paper |
Ink, colored pencil, pastel,
on heavy paper |
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SOLD! 15 June 2006-To a collector in
Italy! Thanks! |
SOLD! 15 June 2006-To a collector in
Italy! Thanks! |
SOLD! 15 June 2006-To a
collector in Italy! Thanks! |
SOLD! 24 August
'05 Goes to a return visitor in Los Angeles! |
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Mongu and Animals |
Leopard Encounter |
Water |
Nzele's Home |
Ngundo's
Journey |
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29" x 18.5" |
14" x 9" |
36.5" x 23.5" |
34" x 24" (96 x 61cm) |
34" x 24" (96 x 61cm) |
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Ink, colored pencil, pastel,
on heavy paper |
Ink, colored pencil, pastel,
on heavy paper |
Ink, colored pencil, pastel, on heavy paper |
Ink, colored
pencil, pastel, on heavy paper |
Ink, colored
pencil, pastel, on heavy paper |
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$380
SOLD! |
SOLD! At the Mistletoe
Mart back in December, '04 |
SOLD!
28 November '05 Mbuno goes to Texas. Thanks, Tom! |
SOLD! 24 August
'05 A second painting for our visitor in Los Angeles! |
SOLD! 24 August
'05 A third Mbuno goes to Los Angeles! |
The paintings below are SOLD but remain on the website
just so you can see other paintings of interest by Mbuno.
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SOLD! |
SOLD! |
SOLD! |
SOLD! |
| "Old-Style"
Mbuno - Rare! SOLD!
To a gentleman in Germany! |
SOLD!
To a person in Barcelona, Spain! He made an offer! |
SOLD!
To a person in Barcelona, Spain! He made an offer! |
SOLD
to a real Mbuno Fan!
27 Sept 2002 |
If you are interested in seeing more paintings by Kivuthi
Mbuno, please let me know!
If you are
interested in any of these paintings:
Write down the Artists Name, Painting Title, Cost, and
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