In January this year, Kateete celebrated 50 years of doing art. Photo Edgar R Batte
Leonard Kateete latest exhibition showcases both his new and past works and his dedication to document more than 30 indigenous African communities through portrait paintings. His work takes one on a journey to tribal settings of a people in a community, their personal traits, uniqueness and civic definition.
A simple, gifted and consistent creative, Leonard Kateete, is a fascinating multi-disciplinary artist whose works continue to draw people to his beautiful paintings, murals, statues, mosaics and more.
Based in Nairobi, Kenya which he has called home for more than 40 years, Kateete conitinues to shine and his work has earned him recognition. His works are currently on exhibition at the Nairobi National Museum under the theme, ‘Heritage. Creativity. Innovation: Exploring the Creative Mind’.
The expo has been extended due to the popularity of the education programmes, hands-on art workshops, tailored for primary school students, guided discussions and curriculum sessions designed for secondary schools as well as engaging talks and critical dialogues curated for art college students.
His latest exhibition showcases both his new and past works and his dedication to document more than 30 indigenous African communities through portrait paintings. Kateete’s works takes one on a journey to tribal settings of a people in a community, their personal traits, uniqueness and civic definition.
According to Lydia Gatundu Galavu, a lead curator at the Nairobi National Museum, the Leonard Kateete Museum collection is displayed alongside his latest paintings under The Kateete Pan-African Art Foundation Trust.
Concurrently, the museum is hosting educational activities and the artist has interacted with school-going pupils and students with whom he has shared insights about inspiration behind his work.
Father Tony Fernandes, of the Dominic Savio Retreat Centre, told this reporter that Kateete’s capacity to direct and guide young African talent to bring to life his imaginative artistry, is proof of his talent and skill.
The exhibition serves as the museum’s flagship event for the International Museums Day celebrations, aligning with the 2024 theme, ‘Museums in Education and Research.’ Galavu explains, “The educational activities have been highly engaging and are designed to target different educational levels. The lead curator, who is also an artist and anthropologist, says Kateete is one of Kenya’s foremost artists, with diverse works, including paintings, sculptures, and mosaics.
“Kateete’s art explores indigenous African themes, particularly through his significant series of oil paintings depicting African couples. His African people portraits, created between 1995 and 1997 for the Nation Media Group, highlight the cultures of Eastern African communities. Now part of the National Museums of Kenya collection, measuring 76 x 127cm, showcase remarkable artistic skill and are a major attraction into African heritage,” Galavu explains what makes Kateete’s body of work unique.
Urvashi Appiah comments in the museum’s visitors’ book, “I am deeply moved by the paintings present here. Sending so much love and courage to the artist and the organisation to keep moving and impacting through their talents and art.”
In January this year, Kateete celebrated 50 years of doing art with an expo at the Institute of Heritage and Restoration Art Gallery at Makerere University. The artist is a graduate of the university. As a student at the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Arts at Makerere, in 1972, Kateete drew a portrait of then president, Idi Amin, which earned him Shs1,000 by George Wilberforce Kakoma of the Ministry of Culture.
He is also the artist behind the famous Nelson Mandela portrait titled Tear of Freedom, which is placed and kept in the Nelson Mandela Museum at House 8115 in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa.
He was a teacher of art at Loreto Convent Msongari in Nairobi, when the announcement of the release of Mandela, a freedom fighter, was made. Different people celebrated the release in different ways. Kateete, who held Madiba in high regard for his spirit of endurance, decided to also draw a portrait of him.
He used a picture of Mandela from Time Magazine to start sketching and later on called a groundsman, who resembled the freedom fighter to pose for him. He hung it on the fence and was complimented for a job well done. Then, a flock of birds came singing and rested close to the portrait. To him, nature had approved his work.
Today, art lovers continue to recognise him for his imaginative finesse. Another of his prominent and expressive art pieces is one of a black Jesus, with a crown of thorns.
In an interaction with Lucy Kayiwa, a social worker in Nairobi’s Kibera slums, she told this reporter that she realised the gift of artistry in Kateete at a tender age when he started scribbling creative stuff in his book while in Primary Two.
She encouraged him to carry on. Kateete is a spiritual person who prays before embarking on work and after its completion.
In celebrating his work, Namilyango Old Boys Association observe that the artist who was at the school from 1965 to 1968, is talented in many mediums, including a 10-foot marble portrait of Pope Paul IV. Kateete was born on March 23rd, 1951 to Deziderio and Anna Walungama in present day Mpigi District.
Best Day
With his wife, Kateete met President Mandela in Nairobi in what he describes as the best 40-minutes of his career as the fallen, former South African leader expressed awe at the detail in the artist’s delivery.
