Fishermen Mending Nets, 1987. Oil on canvas.
Lot 8

Juma Mwakalinga (1958–2019)

Fishermen Mending Nets, 1987

Oil on canvas

76 × 100 cm

Estimate KES 2,400,000–3,400,000

Bidding

Sold

KES 2,800,000

Hammer price. Buyer's premium of 20% and VAT on the premium are added.

How bidding works

Bids · 13

  1. KES 2,800,000 Paddle 147 In the room 23:51
  2. KES 2,600,000 Paddle 271 In the room 23:51
  3. KES 2,400,000 Paddle 400 In the room 23:51
  4. KES 2,200,000 Paddle 462 In the room 23:51
  5. KES 2,000,000 Paddle 375 In the room 23:50
  6. KES 1,900,000 Paddle 129 In the room 23:50
  7. KES 1,800,000 Paddle 184 In the room 23:50
  8. KES 1,700,000 Paddle 295 In the room 23:50
  9. KES 1,600,000 Paddle 147 In the room 23:50
  10. KES 1,500,000 Paddle 268 In the room 23:50
  11. KES 1,400,000 Paddle 404 In the room 23:50
  12. KES 1,300,000 Paddle 154 In the room 23:50
  13. KES 1,200,000 Paddle 493 In the room 23:50

About the work

Four fishermen sit on an upturned boat at the Kivukoni fish market, mending a net that runs across the whole width of the picture. Mwakalinga breaks the figures, the boat and the shade of the market roof into flat, tilting planes of green and terracotta, and the net ties them together. One of the finest pictures of his market years, unseen in public since 1990.

Condition

Good. A short, stable craquelure in the upper left sky. Small retouching at the lower right corner, visible under ultraviolet light.

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by a British engineer working in Dar es Salaam, 1988; by descent to the present owner.

Exhibited

Dar es Salaam, Paintings of the Harbour, a group exhibition, 1990.

The artist

Mwakalinga painted the working life of Dar es Salaam for four decades: the fish market at dawn, the crowds of Kariakoo, the women who sold cloth at Mwenge. He broke each scene into flat, tilting planes of muted green and terracotta, so that a street becomes a pattern of shade and weight. He taught drawing at a secondary school until 2004, and painted at weekends and through the long school holidays.

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