Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (Mozambican, 1936-2011) Pen and Pencil Signed Art Work

Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (Mozambican, 1936-2011) Pen and Pencil Signed Art Work drawing. Dated 1990 and signed to the lower right corner. This wonderful large drawing Ngwenya sketched in pencil then over again in pen, depicting many different characters. In great condition with frame with slightest of damage. This is a large moral being 80cm high.

Measures: Height 79.8cm, Width 59.6cm, Depth 2cm.

Abit about the artist.

One of Africa’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Malangatana Ngwenya found enduring influence in the politics of his native Mozambique as he captured the country’s decades-long break from colonialism to independence in his paintings. Juízo Final (Final Judgement) (1961) was a courageous early work which confronted the oppressive nature of Portuguese colonial rule. The densely populated canvas sees human beings confronted with mystical figures, several of whom have blood oozing from prominently protruding fangs, evocative of a hell on earth. Fangs would go on to be an enduring motif in Ngwenya’s work, used to emphasize the savagery of humankind. As civil war erupted in the late 1970s, Ngwenya depicted the horror and violence of the unfolding events in works produced in a suitably sombre palette of blues. After a declaration of peace came in 1992, Ngwenya’s painting embraced warmer, more hopeful tones and he completed several large-scale public mural projects. In 1997, he was named a UNESCO Artist for Peace.