The paintings are impossible to miss: leopards with blue spots, giraffes on yellow backgrounds, birds in every colour of the rainbow, all outlined in bold black. Tingatinga painting, sold in markets and galleries across East Africa, began with one man painting on squares of board beside a road in Dar es Salaam in the late 1960s.
Tingatinga and his style
Edward Saidi Tingatinga was born in 1932 in southern Tanzania, near the Mozambique border. He moved to Dar es Salaam and worked in various jobs, including as a gardener and musician, before starting to paint. Around 1968, Tingatinga began painting on square hardboard panels using bicycle and house enamel paint. He sold his works by the roadside. Their bright colours and simple shapes attracted buyers.
Tingatinga paintings use flat, bright colours, strong outlines and stylised figures, often animals, birds and scenes of village life. The enamel paint gives a glossy finish.
Students and the cooperative
Tingatinga trained relatives and friends, who painted in his style. A group of followers formed around him. In 1972, Tingatinga was shot and killed by police in Dar es Salaam in a case of mistaken identity. He was about 40. After his death, his students continued his work. The Tingatinga Arts Cooperative Society was established in Dar es Salaam, where painters produce and sell work.
The style spread to other artists across Tanzania and Kenya. Today, many painters work in the Tingatinga tradition, producing art for tourists and collectors.
Themes and recognition
Beyond animals, Tingatinga painters depict market scenes, village life, spirits and stories, sometimes with humour. The animated series Tinga Tinga Tales, produced in Kenya and the UK, used the style to tell African folk tales to children worldwide. Tingatinga art has been exhibited in museums in Europe, Japan and the United States. Tingatinga paintings range from small, inexpensive pieces for tourists to large, detailed works by established painters. Buyers often look for signed works from the cooperative.
A family tradition
Many of today’s leading Tingatinga painters are relatives or descendants of the founder and his first students. They continue to teach younger painters at the cooperative, keeping the style alive while adding new subjects, colours and sizes to suit modern buyers. Tingatinga used paint meant for bicycles to make art meant for joy. A school of painting grew from his roadside stand, and it is still selling in Dar es Salaam every day.
