Notes

Kenyan born Joseph Muli travelled to Nairobi as a youth in the hope of finding work to help support his impoverished family. There he met and stayed with an Italian family who were living in the city. The father was an artist who carved tombstones, a skill he taught to Muli. He moved to Harare, Zimbabwe and from 1964 to 1968, he worked at the Nyarutsetso Art School with Canon Edward Paterson. He was one of the founding members of ZAVACAD (Zimbabwean Association for Visual Artists, Craftpersons, and Designers) and mentored young artists at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. While his foundation was in stone carving, he went on to sculpt from ebony wood; notably long, thin emotive figures.

Harry Kantor (1934-2019), a Capetonian, moved to Harare in the late 1950s. He supported local art institutions such as the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and Gallery Delta, serving as Chairman of both institutions. He promoted Zimbabwe's artists globally and amassed over 300 works, including European and indigenous African painters, Victorian and Chinese pieces. His collection includes significant roots of early Zimbabwean painting. Five paintings from his collection are on display at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Arts' exhibition "When We See Us", featuring African figurative art.

Lots 51-62 can be viewed on our current Timed Online Auction, and lot 75 in our Curatorial Voices Auction, both taking place on the 28^th of February.

Provenance

The Harry Kantor Collection.