Tingatinga (painting)
Encyclopedia
Tingatinga is a painting style that developed in the second half of the 20th century in the Oyster Bay
area in Dar es Salaam
(Tanzania
) and later spread to most East Africa. Tingatinga paintings are one of the most widely represented forms of tourist-oriented art in Tanzania, Kenya
and neighboring countries. The genre is named after its founder, Tanzanian painter Edward Said Tingatinga.
Tingatinga paintings are traditionally made on masonite
, using several layers of bicycle paint, which makes for a brilliant and highly satured colors. Many elements of the style are related to requirements of the tourist-oriented market; for example, the paintings are usually small so they can be easily transported, and subjects are intended to appeal to the Europeans and Americans (e.g., the big five
and other wild fauna). In this sense, Tingatinga paintings can be considered a form of "airport art". The drawings themselves can be described as both naïve
and caricatural
, and humor and sarcasm
are often explicit.
(Dar es Salaam). He employed low cost materials such as masonite
and bicycle paint and attracted the attention of tourists for their colorful, both naïve
and surrealistic
style. When Tingatinga died in 1972, his style was so popular that it had started a wide movement of imitators and followers, sometimes informally referred to as the "Tingatinga school".
The first generation of artists from the Tingatinga school basically reproduced the works of the school's founder. In the 1990s new trends emerged within the Tingatinga style, in response to the transformations that the Tanzanian society was undergoing after independence. New subjects related to the new urban and multi-ethnic society of Dar es Salaam (e.g., crowded and busy streets and squares) were introduced, together with occasional technical novelties (such as the use of perspective
). One of the most well known second-generation Tingatinga painters is Edward Tingatinga's brother-in-law, Simon Mpata.
Because of his short artistic life, Tingatinga left only a relatively small number of paintings, which are sought-after by collectors. Today it is known that fakes were produced from all famous Tingatinga paintings like The lion, Peacock on the Baobab Tree, Antelope, Leopard, Buffalo, or Monkey..
art critic Berit Sahlström claimed that Tingatinga was of Mozambican
origin and thus suggested that his style might have connections with modern Mozambican art. The claim that Tingatinga was of Mozambican descent is nevertheless rejected by most scholars and by the Tingatinga Society. Art trader Yves Goscinny suggested that Edward Tingatinga might have been influenced by Congolese
paintings that were sold in Dar es Salaam
at his times. The source of this claim could be some articles by Merit Teisen, where she also claims that Tingatinga decorated two house walls for payment before he started painting on masonite boards.
The claim by Teisen about Tingatinga decorating house walls might also be interpreted as a clue of another origin of Tingatinga's art, namely the traditional hut
wall decorations of Makua
and Makonde people. These paintings were first witnessed by Karl Heule in 1906 and described in his book Negerleben in Deutsch-Ost Afrika. Also ethnologist
Jesper Kirknaes and Japanese art curator Kenji Shiraishi, as well as modern travellers, have seen and documented these paintings in several locations of southern Tanzania, including Ngapa
, a village where many relatives of Tingatinga's father still live today.
Jesper Kirknaes also documented those painting being done in Dar es Salaam by Makua and Makonde migrants. Shiraishi is one of the scholars who most firmly supported the hypotesis that Tingatinga's art is connected to traditional Makua wall paintings. Among other considerations, Shiraishi observed that it is unlikely that a style emerged and spread so quickly over most East Africa without any connection to traditional art. He claimed that his studies provided evidence for this claim.
In 2010 Hanne Thorup interviewed Tingatinga student Omari Amonde, who confirmed that Tingatinga used to paint on hut walls as a young boy (around 12 years old).
Further elaborating on the Makua painting hypotesis, Shiraishi also suggested a connection between hut walls painting and traditional rock paintings
, an art form that in Africa has continued past stone age
to at least the 19th century. Based on this connection, Shiraishi concludes that Tingatinga art might be seen as the "longest artist trend ever".
Although the internationally acclaimed Tanzanian artist George Lilanga
was not a student of the Tingatinga school, nor a member of the Tingatinga Society, he's known to have frequented Tingatinga artists, and some influence of Tingatinga is evident in his work, especially for what concerns painting (an art form that Lilanga approached in 1974). This influence has been recognized by Lilanga himself in an interview with Kenji Shiraishi, specifically in reference to the use of enamel paint
and square hardboard
s. Besides using materials and techniques originally adopted by Tingatinga painters, Lilanga's art resembles Tingatinga also in its use of vibrant colors and its composition
style, that shares the same horror vacui
of Tingatinga art. It has been suggested that Lilanga (who was originally a sculptor) actually learned to paint from Tingatinga painters such as Noel Kapanda and later Mchimbi Halfani, who collaborated with him. The collaboration between Lilanga and Kapanda lasted several years.
As a consequence of this affinity, Lilanga's works are often exhibited together with Tingatinga. One such exhibition was Die Hand ist das Werkzeug der Seele in 2009 in Stadtgalerie Ahlen, where Lilanga's works were showcased side by side with those of Kapanda and other Tingatinga painters.
Oyster Bay, Tanzania
Oyster Bay is an affluent neighborhood in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is known for an attractive beach. Europeans have resided here since colonial times...
area in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
(Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
) and later spread to most East Africa. Tingatinga paintings are one of the most widely represented forms of tourist-oriented art in Tanzania, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and neighboring countries. The genre is named after its founder, Tanzanian painter Edward Said Tingatinga.
Tingatinga paintings are traditionally made on masonite
Masonite
Masonite is a type of hardboard invented by William H. Mason.-History:Masonite was invented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason. Mass production started in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s Masonite was used for many applications including doors, roofing, walls, desktops, and canoes...
, using several layers of bicycle paint, which makes for a brilliant and highly satured colors. Many elements of the style are related to requirements of the tourist-oriented market; for example, the paintings are usually small so they can be easily transported, and subjects are intended to appeal to the Europeans and Americans (e.g., the big five
Big Five game
The phrase Big Five game was coined by white hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. The term is still used in most tourist and wildlife guides that discuss African wildlife safaris. The collection consists of the lion, African elephant, cape buffalo,...
and other wild fauna). In this sense, Tingatinga paintings can be considered a form of "airport art". The drawings themselves can be described as both naïve
Naïve
Naivety , is the state of being naive—having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication. One who is naive may be called a naif.- Etymology :...
and caricatural
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
, and humor and sarcasm
Sarcasm
Sarcasm is “a sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter jibe or taunt.” Though irony and understatement is usually the immediate context, most authorities distinguish sarcasm from irony; however, others argue that sarcasm may or often does involve irony or employs...
are often explicit.
History
Edward Tingatinga began painting around 1968 in TanzaniaOyster Bay, Tanzania
Oyster Bay is an affluent neighborhood in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It is known for an attractive beach. Europeans have resided here since colonial times...
(Dar es Salaam). He employed low cost materials such as masonite
Masonite
Masonite is a type of hardboard invented by William H. Mason.-History:Masonite was invented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason. Mass production started in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s Masonite was used for many applications including doors, roofing, walls, desktops, and canoes...
and bicycle paint and attracted the attention of tourists for their colorful, both naïve
Naïve
Naivety , is the state of being naive—having or showing a lack of experience, understanding or sophistication. One who is naive may be called a naif.- Etymology :...
and surrealistic
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
style. When Tingatinga died in 1972, his style was so popular that it had started a wide movement of imitators and followers, sometimes informally referred to as the "Tingatinga school".
The first generation of artists from the Tingatinga school basically reproduced the works of the school's founder. In the 1990s new trends emerged within the Tingatinga style, in response to the transformations that the Tanzanian society was undergoing after independence. New subjects related to the new urban and multi-ethnic society of Dar es Salaam (e.g., crowded and busy streets and squares) were introduced, together with occasional technical novelties (such as the use of perspective
Perspective
- Literally, in visual topics :* Perspective , the way in which objects appear to the eye.* Perspective , representing the effects of visual perspective in graphic arts- Metaphorically, in relation to cognitive topics :...
). One of the most well known second-generation Tingatinga painters is Edward Tingatinga's brother-in-law, Simon Mpata.
Because of his short artistic life, Tingatinga left only a relatively small number of paintings, which are sought-after by collectors. Today it is known that fakes were produced from all famous Tingatinga paintings like The lion, Peacock on the Baobab Tree, Antelope, Leopard, Buffalo, or Monkey..
Influences
It is controversial whether Tingatinga's style is completely original or a derivative of traditional art forms of East Africa. In his seminal paper Tingatinga and His Followers, SwedishSweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
art critic Berit Sahlström claimed that Tingatinga was of Mozambican
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
origin and thus suggested that his style might have connections with modern Mozambican art. The claim that Tingatinga was of Mozambican descent is nevertheless rejected by most scholars and by the Tingatinga Society. Art trader Yves Goscinny suggested that Edward Tingatinga might have been influenced by Congolese
Congolese
Congoese may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to the Republic of the Congo in Africa, located west of the Congo River* Something of, from, or related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, through which the Congo River flows...
paintings that were sold in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
at his times. The source of this claim could be some articles by Merit Teisen, where she also claims that Tingatinga decorated two house walls for payment before he started painting on masonite boards.
The claim by Teisen about Tingatinga decorating house walls might also be interpreted as a clue of another origin of Tingatinga's art, namely the traditional hut
Hut
Hut may refer to:*Hut , a small and crude shelter*Hans Hut , Anabaptist leader*Hut Records, an English audio records company*Sunglass Hut International, largest American retailer of sunglasses...
wall decorations of Makua
Makua people
The Makua are the largest ethnic group in northern Mozambique, and also have a large population across the border in the Masasi District of Mtwara Region in southern Tanzania. They live in the region to the north of the Zambezi River...
and Makonde people. These paintings were first witnessed by Karl Heule in 1906 and described in his book Negerleben in Deutsch-Ost Afrika. Also ethnologist
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
Jesper Kirknaes and Japanese art curator Kenji Shiraishi, as well as modern travellers, have seen and documented these paintings in several locations of southern Tanzania, including Ngapa
Ngapa, Mozambique
Ngapa is a village in Mueda District, in Cabo Delgado Province of northern Mozambique.-External links:* Maplandia World Gazetteer...
, a village where many relatives of Tingatinga's father still live today.
Jesper Kirknaes also documented those painting being done in Dar es Salaam by Makua and Makonde migrants. Shiraishi is one of the scholars who most firmly supported the hypotesis that Tingatinga's art is connected to traditional Makua wall paintings. Among other considerations, Shiraishi observed that it is unlikely that a style emerged and spread so quickly over most East Africa without any connection to traditional art. He claimed that his studies provided evidence for this claim.
In 2010 Hanne Thorup interviewed Tingatinga student Omari Amonde, who confirmed that Tingatinga used to paint on hut walls as a young boy (around 12 years old).
Further elaborating on the Makua painting hypotesis, Shiraishi also suggested a connection between hut walls painting and traditional rock paintings
Rock art
Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:*Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces*Pictographs - rock and cave paintings...
, an art form that in Africa has continued past stone age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
to at least the 19th century. Based on this connection, Shiraishi concludes that Tingatinga art might be seen as the "longest artist trend ever".
The Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society
After Tingatinga's death, his direct 6 followers Ajaba Abdallah Mtalia, Adeusi Mandu, January Linda, Casper Tedo, Simon Mpata, and Omari Amonde tried to organize themselves. Relatives of Tingatinga also joined this group, which would be later called the "Tingatinga (or Tinga Tinga) Partnership". Not all of Tingatinga followers agreed to be in the partnership; some created a new group at Slipway. In 1990, the Tingatinga Partnership constituted itself into a society, renamed to Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society (TACS). While the TACS is usually recognized as the most authoritative representative of the Tingatinga heritage, only a small fraction of Tingatinga artists are directly linked to this society.Tingatinga and George Lilanga
George Lilanga
George Lilanga was a Tanzanian artist. He was of the Makonde tribe and lived in Dar es Salaam. His work was exhibited in international expositions of African contemporaries including Africa Remix in Düsseldorf, Paris, London and Tokyo...
was not a student of the Tingatinga school, nor a member of the Tingatinga Society, he's known to have frequented Tingatinga artists, and some influence of Tingatinga is evident in his work, especially for what concerns painting (an art form that Lilanga approached in 1974). This influence has been recognized by Lilanga himself in an interview with Kenji Shiraishi, specifically in reference to the use of enamel paint
Enamel paint
Enamel paint is paint that air dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish, used for coating surfaces that are outdoors or otherwise subject to hard wear or variations in temperature; it should not be confused with decorated objects in "painted enamel", where vitreous enamel is applied with brushes and...
and square hardboard
Hardboard
Hardboard, also called high-density fiberboard , not to be confused with 'hardwood', is a type of fiberboard, which is an engineered wood product....
s. Besides using materials and techniques originally adopted by Tingatinga painters, Lilanga's art resembles Tingatinga also in its use of vibrant colors and its composition
Composition (visual arts)
In the visual arts – in particular painting, graphic design, photography and sculpture – composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art or a photograph, as distinct from the subject of a work...
style, that shares the same horror vacui
Horror vacui
thumb|Many paintings by [[Outsider Art]]ist [[Adolf Wölfli]] contain space filled with writing or musical notationIn visual art, horror vacui is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail....
of Tingatinga art. It has been suggested that Lilanga (who was originally a sculptor) actually learned to paint from Tingatinga painters such as Noel Kapanda and later Mchimbi Halfani, who collaborated with him. The collaboration between Lilanga and Kapanda lasted several years.
As a consequence of this affinity, Lilanga's works are often exhibited together with Tingatinga. One such exhibition was Die Hand ist das Werkzeug der Seele in 2009 in Stadtgalerie Ahlen, where Lilanga's works were showcased side by side with those of Kapanda and other Tingatinga painters.