Quinta-feira, Dezembro 21, 2006
Pont et eglise
Huile sur carton
32.0 x 40.0cm sight; 49.0 x 57.0 x 4.8cm frame
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Église de Le Sacré-Coeur, de Rue Saint-Rustique
Huile sur toile
49.8 x 61 cm (19 5/8 x 24 in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Rue du Mont-Cenis
Huile sur bois
0.750 m x 1.060 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
Les maisons - vers 1900
Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts
La Butte-Pinson - entre 1905 et 1908
Huile sur carton
0.480 m x 0.370 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
La Butte Pinson - 1906
Huile sur toile
38.5 x 46.5 cm.
E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Toits à Montmagny - (vers 1906-1907)
Huile sur toile
0.650 m x 0.540 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Porte Saint-Martin in Paris - 1908
Huile sur carton
60 x 73 cm.
E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich
Château de Villetaneuse Titre attribué : Jardin a montmagny - vers 1908-1909
Huile sur carton
0.520 m x 0.750 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Le Lapin Agile - 1910
Huile sur toile
0.500 m x 0.615 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Abbaye en ruines - 1912
Huile sur toile
0.610 m x 0.820 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Rue de Sannois - vers 1912
Huile sur toile
54 cm x 81 cm
Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
Grande cathédrale ou cathédrale d'Orléans - 1909 ou 1913
Huile sur carton
0.730 m x 0.540 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
Le Cabaret de la Belle Gabrielle - vers 1914
Huile sur toile
28 7/8 x 21 1/4 in. (73.3 x 54 cm)
Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri
La maison de Berlioz - 1914
Hhuile sur bois
0.740 m x 1.040 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
Eglise de banlieue,clocher de village - vers 1917-1918
Huile sur carton
0.600 m x 0.810 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Terrains à vendre à Gentilly - 1922
Huile sur toile
24 x 34 cm
Private Colection
La Mairie au drapeau - 1924
Huile sur toile
0.980 m x 1.300 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
Paysage à Montmartre
Gouache
0.188 m x 0.215 m.
Lille, Palais des Beaux-Arts
La Maison Bernot - 1924
Huile sur toile
1.000 m x 1.460 m.
Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie
Le Moulin de la Galette sous la neige - 1924
Huile sur toile
46 x 55 cm
Private Colection
La rue Saint-Rustique à Montmartre - 1926
Huile sur toile
0.820 m x 0.600 m.
Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou
Vase de Fleurs - vers 1938-9
Huile sur toile
241 x 190 mm
Tate Gallery, London
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Figuras caminham pela neve, passando pelo Moulin de la Galette, em Paris (Le Moulin de la Galette sous la neige - 1924), um moínho de vento cujas pás se projectam num céu invernoso e triste. Os tufos de erva e os ramos das árvores estão pintados de forma vaga, com pinceladas rápidas, evocando o sentimento geral do cenário. O estilo desta obra, com as suas tentativas de captar a essência de uma paisagem citadina durante o Inverno, aproxima-se mais da arte dos Impressionistas do século XIX, do que dos artistas contemporâneos de Utrillo. O autor é mais conhecido por estes invernosos cenários urbanos, que foram por vezes pintados a partir de postais e não através da observação directa. Não tendo qualquer formação artística, Utrillo começou incialmente a pintar como passatempo, tentando lutar contra o seu grave problema de alcpplismo que surgiu muito cedo na sua vida. Filho da pintora Suzanne Valadon, Utrillo também foi cenografista para o coreógrafo Sergei Diaghilev. É sobretudo admirado pela sua capacidade em exprimir a solidão e o desinteresse pela vida urbana. Maurice Utrillo nasceu em Paris em 1883 e morreu em Le Vésinet, França, em 1955.
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Maurice Utrillo was born in Paris, the illegitimate son of the artist Suzanne Valadon, on 26 December 1883. Under his mother's tutelage he began to paint in 1902, at first in the streets of Montmartre. Working in the tradition of the conventional veduta, he depicted streets, corner buildings, rows of buildings, fountains and avenues captured at different seasons of the year in a style influenced by the lyrical realism of Camille Pissarro and Albert Sisley. However, by deploying a subtle palette - mainly yellows, turquoise, maroon and zinc white - he suffused the scenes with atmospheric qualities that evoke feelings either of familiarity or of alienation in the viewer. Known as his 'White Period' (période blanche), the years between 1909 and 1914 represent the acme of Utrillo's creativity. During it he reduced his palette to white shading into greys. He also mixed his paints with sand, plaster and lime to render the physical substance of his subject matter, walls in particular. In 1910 the artist was discovered by the art critics F. Jourdan and E. Faure. Their appreciation of his talent enabled Utrillo to take part for the first time in the 1912 Salon d'Automne. Until 1914 Utrillo travelled in Brittany and Corsica; his works assumed an increasingly luminous quality which greatly enriched his earlier ascetic conception of reality. In 1924 he exhibited together with his mother Suzanne Valadon at the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in Paris and was offered a contract for a year. However, that same year he also attempted to commit suicide, which was probably the result of years of alcohol abuse. A powerful natural talent, Utrillo made an enormous contribution to consolidating painterly structure and texture as opposed to the conception informing Impressionism. He was also important as a draughtsman. In 1926 he did stage scenery and designed costumes for Djaghilev's 'Ballets Russes'. He received public recognition in 1928, when he was made a member of the Legion of Honour. Starting where Impressionism left off, Utrillo became the best-known portrayer of Paris, especially Montmartre, painting both from nature and from postcards. His poetic interpretations of the streets and squares of Montmartre contributed substantially to popularizing a romantic image of that quarter. However, when he painted people, they were always represented as solitary beings, lost in social isolation. A first comprehensive retrospective of Utrillo's work was held at the 1943 Salon d'Automne.
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Segunda-feira, Dezembro 18, 2006
In the Bar
Oil on canvas
55 x 46 cm
Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim, Germany
Mario, Fratellino e le petit Walter
Oil on canvas
656 x 50 cm
Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim, Germany
Bouquet
Oil on canvas
9 x 6 1/2 in. (23 x 16,5 cm.)
Canoe on the River
Oil on Canvas
h: 15 x w: 18.1 in / h: 38.1 x w: 46 cm
River Running through the Forest
Oil on Canvas
h: 5.7 x w: 8.9 in / h: 14.5 x w: 22.6 cm
Boy Fishing
Oil on canvas
h: 25 x w: 32 in / h: 63.5 x w: 81.3 cm
En haut de la colline
Oil on canvas
h: 21.2 x w: 18.1 in / h: 53.8 x w: 46 cm
Chemin de Halage - 1919
Oil on paper
h: 92 x w: 60 cm / h: 36.2 x w: 23.6 in
The White Horse - Circa 1920
Oil on canvas
18 1/8" x 15" (46 x 38 cm)
The Athlete - circa 1920
Oil on canvas
130 x 89 cm
Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim, Germany
Jeune Fille - 1920
Oil on canvas
h: 55 x w: 45 cm / h: 21.7 x w: 17.7 in
Port de Boulogne - 1927
Oil on canvas
h: 72 x w: 50 cm / h: 28.3 x w: 19.7 in
Les bas noirs avec journal - ca. 1930
Oil on canvas
Museum Charlotte Zander, Bönnigheim, Germany
L’Abri des Lavandières - 1930
Oil on canvas
h: 46 x w: 55 cm / h: 18.1 x w: 21.7 in
Vue de Clerval - circa 1930
Oil on canvas
34 x 27 cm
In the Park, 1937
Oil on canvas
22" x 18 1/2" (56 x 47 cm)
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Camille Bombois nasceu perto de Troyes en 1883 (à Venarey-les-Laumes), em França e morreu 1970. É im pintor naïf, conhecido internacionalmente, muito procurado por coleccionadores de arte. Desde a infancia que Camille teve tendência para a pintura. Porém, vindo de um meio modesto, foi obrigado a trabalhar durante, primeiro como criado de uma quinta, depois lutador num circo, marinheiro e trabalhador nos túneis do metro de Paris. Finalmente, conseguiu um emprego nocturno numa impressora de jornais, o que lhe deixa algumas horas para se dedicar à pintura. Durante sete anos teve esta vida difícil, mas é durante este período que adquiriu um estilo e uma técnica muito suas. Contudo, ninguém ese interessava pelos seus quadros. Mobilizado para a Primeira Guerra Mundial, foi distinguido três vezes pela sua coragem nos combates. Quando volta para casa descobre que a sua esposa conseguiu vender alguns dos seus quadros, ainda que a baixo preço. Isso encorajou-o. Voltou à rotina de trabalhar de noite para pintar de dia. Em 1922, faz uma exposição das suas telas ao ar livre a que chama "O Julgamento dos Loucos", segundo a sua própria expressão. A exposição foi um sucesso e as suas obras acharam compradores. Críticos e coleccionadores interessaram-se por ele. Aos 40 anos, Camille Bombois alcançou o seu fim: poder trabalhar apenas como artista pintor.
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Quarta-feira, Dezembro 13, 2006
Beach with Starfish - circa 1933-4
Gouache, ink and paper collage on paper
380 x 485 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Abstract I - 1935
Oil on canvas over wood
917 x 1065 x 50 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Cheltenham Fantasia - 1939
Pencil, Indian ink, gouache, collage on paper
Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
The Dairy, Fawley Court - 1940
Watercolour and drawing on paper
514 x 386 mm
Tate Gallery, London
St Mary le Port, Bristol - 1940
Oil and pencil on canvas laid on wood
762 x 635 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Seaton Delaval - 1941
Oil on canvas laid on wood
711 x 883 mm
Tate Gallery, London
All Saints Chapel, Bath 1942
Ink, chalk, gouache and watercolour on paper
425 x 559 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Nude - 1942
Watercolour, gouache, ink and pencil on paper
275 x 380 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Glaciated Rocks, Nant Ffrancon - 1944
Pen, ink and wash on paper
Tate Gallery, London
Snowdonia, North Wales - 1945
Watercolour, pen, ink & pencil
52 x 70 cm
Museum of Reading
Yarnton Monument - 1947-8
Oil on canvas
629 x 753 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Coast of Brittany II - 1961
Gouache and paper collage on paper
571 x 781 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Anglesey Beach - 1962-3
Lithograph on paper
559 x 445 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Swansea Chapel 1966
Lithograph on paper
689 x 518 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Eye and Camera: Flame Four 1967
Screenprint on paper
Tate Gallery, London
Besse, Dordogne - 1968
Screenprint on paper
781 x 584 mm
Tate Gallery, London
South Wales View (Swansea West) - circa 1970
Gouache & watercolour on paper
39.4 x 57.8cm
Private collection
Petit Palais: Pink and Yellow - 1972
Screenprint on paper
782 x 572 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Death in Venice - 1972
Screenprint on paper
Tate Gallery, London
Harlaxton through the Gate - 1977
Screenprint on paper
715 x 534 mm
Tate Gallery, London
Cartoon for a stained-glass window - 1982
Gouache
97 x 122 cm
Wiltshire Heritage Museum
Lower Brockhampton 1983
Screenprint on paper
457 x 668 mm
Tate Gallery, London
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"Seaton Delaval - 1941" - A fachada dramática desta casa de campo do princípio do século XVIII situada em Northumberland parece imponente e majestosa, representada em silhueta contra o céu noctorno. A luz teatral e as manchas em tom púrpura e amarelo dão a impressão de que o edifício está a arder, talvez fazendo referência aos verdadeiros incêndios nocturnos que percorriam as cidades inglesas durante o Blitz e que, talvez, pudessem ameaçar tesouros nacionais como este. Esta obra pertence a uma série que Piper fez durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, registando as glórias arquitecturais da gr~-Bretanha que na altuea estavam ameaçadas pelos borbardeamentos aréreos alemães. Nos anos 30, ele tinha começado por ser um artista abstracto geométrico influenciado por Braque e Brancusi. A sua mudança para a figuração foi proclamada como parte de uma mudança mais geral na arte inglesa, que se afastaou das experiências modernistas radicaise seguiu um estilo pitoresco mais tradicional. Piper publicou dois livros de poesia no princípio dos anos 20 e também desenhou cenários e janelas em vitral. John Piper nasceu em Epson em 13 de Dezembro de 1903, onde morreu no dia 28 de Junho de 1992.
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Domingo, Dezembro 10, 2006
Honky-Tonk cover
Johnny Cash
Johnny Mathis
commissioned byThe New Yorker.
The cover of the annual program
for the Schauspielhaus Theatre in Zurich.
Poster and invitation for ADT Securities
trade show party in New Orleans
Portrait of artist Emily Carr
for full page "Illustrated Review" in The Walrus magazine
Illustration for Los Angeles Magazine
on the Rhino Retrofest.
Full page illustration commissioned by New York Magazine
on the private school rat race.
Green Truck.
From an ongoing personal series of paintings
depicting personal objects atop green stamp collage.
Monkey Porter.
From an ongoing personal series of paintings
depicting personal objects atop green stamp collage.
Editorial assignment,"Show and Tell in the Classroom."
Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots
commissioned by Rolling Stone.
Poster for the Big Apple Festival.
Levine Birds
Illustration of angels
commissioned by Time Magazine article on angels.
Louis Armstrong, from a series of eight CD covers commissioned by Verve Records for their Essential Series on Jazz.
Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts awards;
ID Magazine gold medal.
Sarah Vaughan, from a series of eight CD covers commissioned by Verve Records
for their Essential Series on Jazz.
Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts awards; ID Magazine gold medal.
Charlie Parker, from a series of eight CD covers commissioned by Verve Records
for their Essential Series on Jazz.
Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Communication Arts awards; ID Magazine gold medal.
Illustration for article on Marilyn Monroe's effects being auctioned off commissioned by Los Angeles Magazine.
Portrait of a fashion queen
commissioned by the Washington Post Sunday Magazine.
Portrait ofAlbert Einstein
commissioned by the New York Times Book Review.
Leo Kottke, cover of the CD "That's What"
for Private Music.
Illustration for an article on storytelling
commissioned by the Utne Reader.
Absolut Vodka ad
commissioned by The New Yorker. (Unpublished.)
Cover of the children's book,
Shake, Rattle & Roll: the Founders of Rock & Roll.
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Laura Levine's eclectic background as a cross-disciplinary visual artist has led her to pursue a variety of projects in independent filmmaking, photography, television animation, fine art and illustration.
Laura Levine’s iconic rock photography portraits have appeared in countless magazines, album covers and books, as well as dozens of exhibitions, photography anthologies and published collections of fine art photographs. Her photographs are in the permanent collection of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and numerous private collections. In 2005 she was the recipient of the Aperture Award from Rave Magazine in India, and her cover for the premiere issue of Blue Magazine was recently named one of the forty top magazine covers in the past forty years by the ASME (American Society of Magazine Editors).
From 1980 - 1995, Levine's career as a music photographer enabled her to work with everyone from Björk to James Brown for magazines such as Rolling Stone, The New York Rocker (where she was chief photographer/photo editor), and Sounds UK. She directed music videos for Lisa Germano and Giant Sand, and worked with R.E.M. and other Athens, Georgia musicians on the Super-8 underground film, Just Like A Movie (1984).
A self-taught artist, for over a decade Levine has been painting an ongoing series of portraits of contemporary music’s pioneers, which she developed and adapted into a series of children’s books. Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country & Western Music, and Shake, Rattle & Roll: The Founders of Rock & Roll (Houghton Mifflin; with words by Holly George-Warren). Her first picture book was Wig!, a collaboration with the B-52's (Hyperion Books for Children). Levine’s award-winning illustrations have appeared in the pages of Time, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker as well on the covers of numerous books and CDs (Richard Thompson's Rumour and Sigh, the Verve Essential Series, Leo Kottke).
Levine’s paintings have been exhibited worldwide and are part of the permanent collection of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, The House of Blues, and the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Rome. Her work is in numerous private collections, including those of Harry Shearer & Judith Owen, Nora Ephron, Lisa Bonet, Tom Freston/MTV, Laurie & Larry David, and Cher. The original artwork Levine created for Shake, Rattle & Roll spent a year on exhibit, touring some of the country's finest cultural institutions and galleries including the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, The Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle, Yard Dog Folk Art in Austin, and the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas. Levine’s work in animation has been screened as part of the 2000 Animation Festival at the Museum of Television & Radio, and she was commissioned to create and develop an animated series pilot for MTV.
Levine’s first documentary short film, Peekaboo Sunday -- the brief and hilarious tale of one woman and her six disobedient miniature horses—had its World Premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival as an official selection in the Short Film competition, and has gone on to screen at the Florida Film Festival, the Atlanta Film & Video Festival, the Lake Placid Film Forum, the Short Attention Span Film Festival, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the New York Comedy Film Festival, among others.
Her first documentary feature film, Digging for Dutch: The Search for the Lost Treasure of Dutch Schultz, had its International Premiere as an official selection of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2002, and its World Premiere at the 2001 Woodstock Film Festival, where it won the Kodak-sponsored 2001 Torchlight Award for Best Feature-Length Film, presented by the New York City Film Project. The film has been the subject of feature articles in the New Yorker, the New York Times, The London Sunday Telegraph, Harvard Magazine, and the National Examiner.
In her spare time, Levine, who grew up in New York City's Chinatown and graduated from Harvard University is the proprietress of Homer & Langley's Mystery Spot, an unusual antique/ junk/oddities shop in Phoenicia, New York.
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Quinta-feira, Dezembro 07, 2006
The Point of no Return - 2003
Óleo sobre tela
114x146 cm
Força no Ar - 2003
Óleo sobre tela
146x114 cm
Nabo no Pedestal - 2004
Óleo sobre tela
195x130 cm
Space Between - 2004
Óleo sobre tela
130x162 cm
Desafio a Dimensão - 2004
Técnica mista sobre tela
35x27x26 cm
Contained Sky - 2004
Óleo sobre tela
113x146 cm
Total Eclipse of the Ocean - 2004
Óleo sobre tela
81x100 cm
Mar na Seara - 2004
Óleo spbre tela
40x30 cm
Mar Crepúsculo - 2004
Óleo sobre tela
46x61 cm
Os Rostos da Maçã - 2005
Óleo sobre tela
100x81cm
Pincelada de Céu - 2005
Óleo sobre tela
146x114 cm
Pincelada de Mar - 2005
Óleo sobre tela
146x114cm
Brinquedo Perdido - 2005
óleo sobretela 81x100 cm
Homem do Sino - 2005
Óleo sobre tela
40x80 cm
Cardos - 2006
óleo/tela
89x116cm
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Gustavo Fernandes nasceu em Lisboa em 1964. Viveu 13 anos no Canadá, nos períodos de 1975/1979 e 1981/1989. Frequentou a Escola de Belas Artes Mission Renaissance, o programa de Artes Plásticas e Gráficas do Dawson College e os cursos «Drawing from the Artist within» de Betty Eduards e «The Natural way to Draw» de Nicolïdes, em Montréal. No interim da sua permanência de dois anos, em Portugal, trabalha sob orientação do retratista Francisco de Oliveira. Os seus primeiros contactos com os meios artístico e cultural desenvolvem-se em Montréal, onde leva a cabo as suas primeiras exposições (Galerie Triolet e La Bourse d?Art). Regressa definitivamente a Portugal, em 1989, instalando as bases do Atelier de desenvolvimento Artístico - Galeria dos Arcos (Oeiras) que irá consolidar em 1992. Em 1993, é co-fundador do Grupo Artitude (com Luís Vieira-Baptista, Magnus de Monserrate e Victor Lages), que se extingue em 1996. As suas actividades cultural e artística profissional, no mercado, autonomizam-se e evoluem, desde então, sem que, todavia, perdesse os contactos individuais e afectivos que emergiram das mais gratificantes sinergias do Grupo.
Website do artista
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Terça-feira, Dezembro 05, 2006
Chrysler Building, NYC
1930
Tractor Factory, Stalingrad
1930
Campbell Soup: Peeling Onions
1935
Steps, Washington, D.C.
1935
Switchboard at New York Stock Market,
Wall Street, New York,
1936
Fort Peck Dam
1936
Diversion Tunnels, Fort Peck Dam
1936
At Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territory, Canada
1937
Bread Line during the Louisville flood, Kentucky
1937
Nazi Storm Troopers' training class
1938
Cocktails on Gorky Street, Moscow
1941
Hohenzollern Bridge, Cologne
1945
Prisoners at Buchenwald
1945
German civilians made to face their nation's crimes, Buchenwald
1945
Nuremberg
1945
Dr. Kurt Lisso, Leipzig's city treasurer,
and his wife and daughter after taking poison
to avoid surrender to U.S. troops, Leipzig
1945
Mahatma Ghandhi
1946
Jawaharlal Nehru, India
1947
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A obra de Margaret Bourke-White tornou-se simbólica do fotojornalismo americano de tendência política e social. Interessada sobretudo na fotografia industrial desde 1928, recebeu o seu primeiro grande trabalho da revista Fortune em 1930, viajando até à União Soviética, onde se tornou a primeira repórter estrangeira a ter autorização de fotografar as instalações industriais soviéticas. Margaret Bourke-White foi um dos membros fundadores da revista Life em 1936, onde a sua fotografia da barragem de Fort Peck, depois a maior central hidroeléctrica do mundo, foi usada como capa. Durante a II Guerra Mundial, Margaret Bourke-White trabalhou como correspondente fotográfica de guerra. Depois da capitulação da Alemanha, as suas fotografias chocantes da libertação de campos de concentração atraíram a atenção de todo o mundo. Em 1946, viajou até à Índia incumbida pela Life de documentar a luta desse país pela liberdade. Na fotografia de Ghandhi, realçou a roca, o símbolo da independência da Índia, colocando-a de forma dominante em 1º plano. Margaret Bourke-White nasceu em Nova Iorque em 1904 e morreu em 1971, em Stanford, Connecticut.
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Sábado, Dezembro 02, 2006
Safari Yake (On his Journey)
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
36 cm x 23 cm
Safari ya MAKE (Journey of MAKE)
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
36 cm x 23 cm
Ndovu Na Tumbiri
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
57 cm x 39 cm
Mang'oka Na Tumbiri
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
81 cm x 56 cm
Meno Ya Ndovu
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
57 cm x 39 cm
Nyumbani Kwake
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
57 cm x 39 cm
Munyau Na Nyoka
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
81 cm x 56 cm
Mzebi Ako Nyumbani
Pastel, coloured crayon and felt-tip pen on heavy paper
81 cm x 56 cm
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Kivuthi Mbuno was born in Kenya in the year 1947. He is an recognized master of the international art scene. His works were exhibited in very important museums and private galleries in Europe (Saatchi Collection, London, Germany) and in the United States (Center for African Art, New York).
In his early days, Kivuthi Mbuno worked as a chief on Safaris, which led him to travel, primarly into the interior of Kenya and Tanzania. This is how he came to know nature and its wild fauna and to mantain a close relationship with them that was to mark him deeply. In 1976, his ties with the family of baroness Karen Blixen (better known under her nome de plume, Isaac Dinesen) led him to settle in Langata, where, from then on, he devoted himself exclusively to drawing. These lenghty treks inland as well as the traditional life of the Wakamba tribe, from which he comes, have inspired him. Mbuno gives himself to nature abd shows us the extraordinary in what is common place. In a precise drawing style - using ink, color pencils, and pastels - he combines animals, humas, objects of traditional life and huge spaces. This is his vocabulary, and it has not changed in almost 20 years.
Here the vast territories of Africa have none of that hostile aspects usually ascribed to them. Kivuthi Mbuno transports us into a peaceable and luminous world that yields itself up to any activity. For Kivuthi Mbuno the sparkle of his world is percetible in places where we do not ordinary notice it. Animals (gazelles, giraffes, hyienas, elephants, snakes, birds) ceaselessly play with their morphological characteristics ( the giraffes long neck, the powerful elephants trunk, and so far) in this nature in which they apropriate their respective territory in perfect harmony with the other animals. Only mankind might appear as the disturbing element. But there, too, Mbuno decks them out with characteristics that are at one and the same time grotesque and elegant: they move about with the same ease as the animals they are hunting. Shining through their very singular faces are the spiritual characteristics of shrewd, pleasure-seeking, enjoyful people.
The model in the artist's mind comes closer to the supernatural than to the natural. We would be wrong to believe in one ancestral vision or to see in this work the mark of primitive naivete. 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 Kivuthi Mbuno, 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".
Fonte: "Contemporary Art of Africa", A. Magnin; "Contemporary African Art from the Jean Pigozzi collection", Sotheby's
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