By
Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 8 April 2019)
Kenyans initial
encounter with Tinga Tinga most frequently has come from the Saturday morning
animated television show, ‘Tinga Tinga Tales’ that has been turned into a
meta-franchise featuring Tinga Tinga toys, games, videos and DVDs.
Alternatively,
more Kenyans might have heard about ‘Tinga Tinga the Musical’ that was such a
big hit at Kenya National Theatre last year that it went all the way to New
York where it got rave reviews when it was staged on Broadway.
But quite
possibly, none of those viewers had ever heard of the late Tanzanian artist
Edward Saidi Tinga Tinga whose paintings not only inspired a cultural
revolution in his country since he died in 1972. His art as well as his name
has also gained iconic status as a short-hand term for East African art
generally.
What
recently attracted public attention to the name E.S. Tinga Tinga was the sale
at the Art Auction East Africa of an original Tinga Tinga painting. The
untitled ‘Elephant eating from the Marula Tree’ went for a whooping Sh5.635
million, the highest figure that any East African artwork has sold for at the
auction.
The sale was
a surprise even to the auctioneers who had listed in their catalogue the
probable bidding price of between Sh600,000 and Sh940,000.
But
according to Alan Donovan, curator of the Nairobi Gallery where second and
third generations of ‘Tinga Tinga artists’ works are currently on show, that
price might seem like an outlier.
“But as E.S.
Tinga Tinga died in 1972 at the age of 40, the limited supply of his art is
bound to drive the value of it up as time goes by,” Donovan said last Sunday at
the opening of the exhibition “Tinga Tinga and the Legendary Artists of
Tanzania.”
The show
itself doesn’t include a single original work by the Master. Yet what it
reveals is the extent to which Tinga Tinga triggered what Donovan describes as
a ‘revolution in Tanzanian art.’
Placing the elder
artist and his disciples within an historical context, he recalls that the
precursors to Tinga Tinga’s artwork were sculptures by Makonde carvers who were
based in both Tanzania and Mozambique.
In fact,
Tinga Tinga may or may not have been acquainted with Makonde sculpture. He
started out as a bicycle repairman, but like so many local artists who have an
impulse to create, Tinga Tinga began his illustrious career humbly. He created
his art using the enamel paint that he’d previously employed when fixing
bicycles and he scavenged for Masonite ceiling boards on which he drew in place
of costly canvas.
Quickly he
discovered his paintings earned him more in sales than his bicycle repair, so
he began doing his art full-time.
The fact
that Tinga Tinga sparked several generations of young Tanzanian artists to
follow in his footsteps can be viewed severally. For on the one hand, it can be
said as Donovan has that Tinga Tinga triggered a ‘renaissance’ in Tanzanian
art. Certainly, there are now hundreds of young artists who consider themselves
part of the Tinga Tinga School since they also paint African animals as the
elder did. They paint elephants, leopards, hyena and the most distinctive Tinga
Tinga bird, the Hornbill which is often viewed as a messenger sent from the
ancestoral spirit world.
But on the
other hand, some critics claim their artistry lacks originality and
individuality. They say it is being mass produced with artists painting the
most typical Tinga Tinga creatures on everything from handbags and keyrings to
wooden trays that constitute what has been conventionally called ‘airport art’
or ‘souvenir art’.
Either way, Donovan’s
appreciation of ‘Tinga Tinga and the Legendary Artists of Tanzania’ compelled
him to put up an exhibition of extremely affordable art inside the Veteran Artists’
wing of Nairobi Gallery. And whether you think works by the second or third
generation of Tinga Tinga artists look a little or a lot like the original’s
did, it doesn’t really matter.
What is of interest
are the colors, creatures, designs and whimsy of these works which are bright,
well-crafted and fun. For anyone wanting inexpensive yet attractive artworks
for their living room walls, these could be right for you.
But if
someone is looking for art that’s affordable now and likely to accrue in value
over time, these Tinga Tinga offshoots may not be right for you.
Nonetheless,
who knew an original Tinga Tinga was going to sell for Sh5.6 million? Anything
can happen in the crazy world of fine art.
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