Tingatinga

On Saturday Stefan and I bought our very first Tingatinga painting. These are named after their originator Edward Tingatinga and are unique to Tanzania. As we can read in the Bradt Guide, the style arose in Dar es Salaam in the early 1960's as Edward fused the vibrant and popular work of Congolese immigrants with art traditions indiginous to his Makua homeland in the Mozambique border area. The canvasses feature large, bold and often surreal two-dimensional images of African animals on a monotone background. The style has always been commercially driven and some call Tingatinga the african answer to Pop Art.