Professor Gregory Maloba (Ugandan Contemporary Sculptor, 192...

Estimate

£400 - £600

Professor Gregory Maloba (Ugandan Contemporary Sculptor, 1922 - 2004), a sculpted terracotta bust, of an emaciated African elder, sunken cheeks and exposed collar bones, lightly glazed in matt tones of red, brown and ochre, 35cm high Professor Maloba - 'one of Uganda's first professional sculptors', according to Sunrise - was born in Mumias, Kenya, in 1922, the son of a carpenter with aspirations for his talented son. Following boarding school, Maloba studied at St Mary's School, Yala, where the principal displayed the gifted student's work during the visit of Sir Henry Moore in 1940. Lady Moore, herself a graduate of the Slade School of Art, spotted the young artist's skill and offered Maloba a scholarship to St Mary's Kisubi in Uganda so that he could train under Margaret Trowell at Makerere. Later he graduated from Manchester University and the Royal College of Art, London. During the Kenyan struggles Maloba worked in Uganda, championing the growth of Contemporary independent African art, and was commissioned by the then government to make the country's official gift for the wedding of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowden in 1960. Throughout the rest of Maloba's career - academic and artistic - he sculpted a generation of future African artists and thinkers. Many tributes were awarded to Maloba in his life, however, posthumously Uganda from May 2010 has featured his work on their banknotes. Provenance: Purchased by the vendor's late father from a friend of the artist while living and working in Uganda in the 1950s/1960s.