Rhinos
Tingatinga Painting
Nairobi, Kenya
21" x 24"
$258.00 

Antelopes and Birds
Tingatinga Painting
Nairobi, Kenya
23" x 31"
$325.00 

Tall Giraffe with Hippo
Tingatinga Painting by Hamadi
Watamu, Kenya
12 1/2" x 38"
$295.00 

Tanzanian/Kenyan Tingatinga Paintings

On our summer 2011 trip to Kenya and Ethiopia, we were delighted to discover Tingatinga Paintings, which first emerged in Tanzania in the 1960s. Edward Saidi Tingatinga, now deceased, began painting the bright images of African wildlife a decade or so after a similar art movement -- with whimsical animals, dot detail, and brilliant colors -- began in Haiti. Before his death, Tingatinga trained his sons and other artists, who now have trained additional artists in Tanzania and Kenya, to do the unique, primitive-style paintings.

Pictured here are seven of the paintings we brought back with us from Kenya. The largest of these East African paintings, pictured at the bottom of this column, sold within hours after I pulled the canvas onto the stretcher bars.

Below is Hamadi, creator of a number of the tingatinga paintings shown here and one of the artists we befriended in Watamu, Kenya.

Elephants and Friends
Tingatinga Painting by Hamadi
Watamu, Kenya
11 1/2" x 27"
$195.00 

Animal Menagerie
Tingatinga Painting by Hamadi
Watamu, Kenya
11 1/2" x 27"
$195.00 

Two Giraffes with Friends
Tingatinga Painting by Hamadi
Watamu, Kenya
30 1/2" x 38 1/2"
$425.00 

Animal Menagerie
Tingatinga Painting by Hamadi
Watamu, Kenya
27 1/2" x 66 1/2"
$575.00 (Sold)