Kiure Francis Msangi
Mt Kilimanjaro at Dawn
About the SessionNAIROBI – Following their successful collaboration in 2025, Strauss & Co, Africa’s leading auction house, and Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Art Auction East Africa, will present Art Auction East Africa | Strauss & Co, a 67-lot sale bringing together modern and contemporary art from East Africa and the wider continent. The live-virtual sale will be held at Circle Art Gallery in Nairobi on Wednesday, 28 October, 2026, 7pm EAT. The catalogue spans a diversity of East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, alongside works by artists from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Nigeria. Works on paper, photography and sculpture complements the strong painting consignment. “The selection invites collectors to discover East Africa’s diverse modernist histories, particularly those beyond the Anglophone world,” says Susie Goodman. “In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in East African modernists, with artists associated with the Khartoum School shown in museums and fairs globally. Our work as an auction house rooted in Africa is ensuring this rediscovery is not temporary. We are delighted to partner with Danda Jaroljmek in cultivating a sustainable secondary market for East African modernists active during the era of decolonisation and independence.” A preview exhibition will be held at Circle Art Gallery, Victoria Square, Riara Road, Nairobi, during the two weeks preceding the auction on Wednesday, 28 October 2026.
LOT 22
Kiure Francis Msangi
Mt Kilimanjaro at Dawn
Incl. Buyer's Premium & VAT
About this Item
signed, numbered 13/197 and inscribed with the title in pencil in the margin
Provenance
The Artist's Estate.
Notes
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
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