Robino Ntila
Untitled (Music and Play)
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 2026 edition includes works by Kenyan painter Boniface Maina and Tanzanian artist K.F. Msangi, both of whom attracted strong bidding at the 2025 edition, with their works selling above pre-sale estimates.
Dated 1987, K.F. Msangi’s My First Wife (estimate KES 900 000 – 1 500 000 / US$7 000 – 11 800) is a satirical depiction of consumer avarice that recalls details from Ayi Kwei Armah’s classic novel The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968). Msangi’s work was recently the subject of a survey exhibition at Circle Art Gallery. Boniface Maina’s Contemplating in Bliss (estimate KES 300 000 – 500 000 / US$2 350 – 3 900) dates from 2011.
“The catalogue for this year’s edition includes a number of important Kenyan artists, ranging from contemporary figures Cyrus Kabiru, Peterson Kamwathi, Boniface Maina and Kaloki Nyamai to expressionist painter Sane Wadu, founder of the Ngecha Artists Association, and his wife, Eunice Wadu, a pioneering woman artist in East Africa,” says Danda Jaroljmek, Director of Circle Art Agency, who founded Art Auction East Africa in 2013. “There is also a strong selection of works by Sudanese artists, including Salah Elmur, Rashid Diab and Ahmed Shibrain, a founding figure of the influential Khartoum School.”
Artist, Salah Elmur, who was mentored by Khartoum School member Kamala Ishaq, is best known for his vibrant and symbolic portraits, which evoke memories of his childhood and youth in Sudan. Elmur left Sudan in 1989 and has lived in Cairo since the early 1990s. The sale features two works that track his evolving style. Dated 2019, Untitled (Seated Figure) (estimate KES 1 200 000 – 2 600 000 / US$10 000 – 20 000) showcases his signature cubistic treatment of facial features and use of warm, earthy tones.
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. Highlights include renowned modernist sculptor Samuel Wanjau’s carved bird sculpture (estimate KES 900 000 – 1 200 000 / US$7 000 – 9 000). Wanjau received his training at Akamba, a commercial cooperative, before moving to Paa Ya Paa Arts Centre, also in Nairobi, where he developed a personal and expressive style.
“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 23
Robino Ntila
Untitled (Music and Play)
About this Item
signed, numbered AP. 2/5 in pencil in the margin
Provenance
Private Collection.
Notes
A master printmaker, curator and critic, Robino Ntila was one of East Africa’s most influential artists. Best known for his etched monochrome prints depicting everyday traditional life, Ntila, who passed away in 2020, is also remembered as a generous teacher and promoter of Tanzanian artists.
In 1975 Ntila joined Nyumba ya Sanaa in Dar es Salaam, eventually becoming the main coordinator at the art centre for over 30 years. Since 1992, Ntila has worked as a professional artist and has conducted art workshops across Africa, along with curating local and international exhibitions of Tanzanian art.
Ntila has taught and inspired numerous young artists, especially those interested in printmaking techniques. Specialising in etching, Ntila taught several workshops including one in 2002 at the then Kuona Trust Museum Art Studios in Nairobi, working with artists such as Peterson Kamwathi and Simon Muriithi. Ntila travelled regularly to Austria to study printmaking, accompanied by fellow Tanzanian artists Francis Imanjama, George Lilanga and his nephew, Hendrick Lilanga.
Ntila has exhibited his art in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, the USA, Austria, India, Germany, France, Finland, Russia and Switzerland. In 2014, Ntila was chosen to represent Tanzania at the Kauru African Contemporary Art Project in South Africa. A selection of his artwork was displayed at the Nairobi Gallery as part of the Tanzania Pioneer Artists exhibition in 2019, which he co-curated with Alan Donovan.
Biography courtesy of Circle Art Gallery.
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