featured_artists > E.S. TINGATINGA's first students

ADEUSI Mandu Mmatambwe (deceased, date unknown)

Adeusi was one of E.S. Tingatinga close friends. Of Makonde origin, he belongs to the first generation of the Tingatinga school of painters. In turn, he will train several of the artists who will later constitute the second generation.

Abdallah AJABA (... - 2003)

E.S. Tingatinga's cousin, Ajaba liked to include flying insects (Tse-tse flies) in his paintings.

Abdallah Ajaba died in January 2003 in his native village in the south of Tanzania where he had retired, quite a number of years ago. He had stopped painting a couple of years after E.S. Tingatinga died.

John LINDA Amba (January LINDA) (1947 - deceased, date unknown)

Born in 1947 in Mozambique, January Linda was one of E.S. Tingatinga's cousins and friend. Of Makonde origin, Linda became acquainted to Tingatinga by intermediate of Tingatinga's wife who was also a Makonde. In the late 60's, Linda helped Tingatinga preparing the paintings. Soon after, he also started painting with great success. Linda's work differs from other painters' in the "savage" and expressive style. After Tingatinga's death, Linda moved to Bagamoyo and didn't continue his painting career.

Simon G. MPATA (1942 - 1984)

The youngest half- brother of Edward Saidi Tingatinga (of the same mother). Mpata learned to paint from his brother and without a doubt, he is the artist who kept his style the closest to Tingatinga's.

Upon Tingatinga's death, he demonstrated his non-compromised fidelity to his late brother's will by refusing to train numerous new tinga-tinga recruits and preferred to leave Tanzania.

Simon Mpata moved to Nairobi and opened his own studio, where he died in 1984 aged forty-two.

Kaspar Henrick TEDO (deceased, date unknown)

One of Edward Tingatinga's cousins. Tedo was on of this first students and was wounded in the same police car chase shoot-out that killed Tingatinga.

source: "Tinga-Tinga, the popular paintings from Tanzania", Y. Goscinny