1-54 London: Contemporary African Art Fair

10 - 13 October 2024
Overview
Theresa Musoke
This year we are delighted to present a very special solo retrospective for octogenarian Ugandan artist, Theresa Musoke, who will be joining Danda Jaroljmek at the fair.  We will be showing a selection of her early prints from the 1960s and paintings and drawings made in the past 20 years.
 
 A self-described semi-abstract artist, Musoke is known for her expressive paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures that engage fauna, wildlife and abstraction. Over her career she has developed a distinctive visual language blending sensitive draughtsmanship with painterly experimentation. Beginning in observation but working from memory and imagination in intuitive ways, Musoke’s methods are anchored in meditative mark-making, with patient layering that resolves in blended and expressive paintings. Her fine hand also extends to ink and pencil drawings, rendered in gentle washes, or blocked out using hatchlines.
 
Musoke has been a highly influential figure in Kenyan and Ugandan art, not only known for her celebrated visual arts practice but also as a distinguished educator.  She lived in Kenya for over twenty years, teaching at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. Throughout this time, Musoke exhibited frequently in local galleries such as Paa Ya Paa, Gallery Watatu and the African Heritage House. Her selected solo and group exhibitions include a solo show at the Uganda Museum, 1965; Sanaa: Contemporary Art from East Africa, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1984; Pioneer Women of the Arts, Nairobi Gallery, 2018; A Retrospective of Three Artists: Theresa Musoke, Tabitha wa Thuku, Yony Waite, Circle Art Gallery, 2022. Her work featured in the travelling group show Mwili Akili Na Roho, at the Royal Academy, London and Haus Der Kunst, Munich. Select publications include African Artists, Phaidon (2022) Mwili, Akili na Roho, David Zwirner (2023) Theresa Musoke, Uhuru or Freedom, Art Education (1989). Her work is part of several collections including the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute, The African Arts Trust and the Sharjah Art Foundation.
Works

Theresa Musoke (Ugandan b. 1944)
Lives and works in Kampala

Theresa Musoke is a formally experimental semi-abstract painter who has been celebrated for her expressive portrayals of wildlife. Using a range of mediums and techniques to develop her imagery, Musoke allows the suggestive nature of dyed canvas to guide her painting into evocative forms of animals and landscapes. Over her career she has developed a distinctive visual language blending astute, sensitive draughtsmanship with painterly experimentation.

Musoke was the first female artist to obtain a degree from the Margaret Trowell School of Fine Arts at Makerere University in 1963. She went on to win the painting prize in 1965 and obtained a scholarship to study for a postgraduate diploma in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art in London in 1965. She later won a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation to continue her studies at the University of Pennsylvania. On her return to Kampala, Musoke taught at Makerere University before relocating to Nairobi in 1976.

Musoke has been a highly influential figure in Kenyan and Ugandan art, not only for her celebrated visual practice but also as a distinguished educator. She lived in Kenya for over twenty years, teaching at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. Throughout this time, Musoke exhibited frequently in local galleries such as Paa Ya Paa, Gallery Watatu and the African Heritage House. Her selected solo and group exhibitions include a solo show at the Uganda Museum, 1965; Sanaa: Contemporary Art from East Africa, Commonwealth Institute, London, 1984; Pioneer Women of the Arts, Nairobi Gallery, 2018; A Retrospective of Three Artists: Theresa Musoke, Tabatha wa Thuku, Yony Waite, Circle Art Gallery, 2022. Her work featured in the travelling group show Mwili akili Na Roho, at the Royal Academy, London and Haus Der Kunst, Munich.

She is featured in the Phaidon book, African Artists and will have a solo exhibition at 1-54 Art Fair, London in October 2024.
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