Artist Database

Kiure Francis Msangi was a Tanzanian artist and scholar. He graduated from Makerere University, where he was awarded the Trowell Prize for top performance, with a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) and Diploma in Education in 1964. Msangi taught art at Nairobi and Kenyatta Universities from 1968 to 1973. Msangi received a Fulbright scholarship to the California College of Arts in San Francisco where he went on to earn a BFA in Graphic Design in 1975, an MA in Art Education in 1977, and completed a PhD at Stanford University in 1987. After 12 years in California, he returned to the art department at Kenyatta University.

Msangi worked in various media. His paintings featured realistic interpretations of life, often in landscape and figure compositions. Msangi used vibrant, thickly applied colours, layering paint on top of or next to each other. He also created mixed media prints using linoleum cut, hardboard cut, woodcut, and etching techniques. Msangi’s artworks frequently incorporated political themes and were known for confronting difficult and tragic subject matter.

Msangi’s artworks can be found in private collections including the late Maya Angelou, Stanford University, San Jose State University, and is documented in the African Arts magazine.

Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery