Kingsley Sambo (1936–1977) was a

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

ist.

Biography

Sambo was born in Rusape, where he lived until attending Cyrene Mission boarding school in the 1940s (his work in the exhibition The Stars Are Bright is dated 1945). He received art training there under Sam Songo and Canon Edward (Ned) Paterson. Later, he went to art school in Malawi. In 1959, he returned to Cyrene, where he taught art for a year. In 1960 he quit that job to become the cartoonist for the ''Daily News'' in Salisbury, which had a primarily African readership. Once in Salisbury he joined Frank McEwen's

Workshop School Beginning with the Industrial Revolution era, a workshop may be a room, rooms or building which provides both the area and tools (or machinery) that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods. Workshops were the only ...

, where he received further painting training. From early on in Salisbury he exhibited in annual competitions and other exhibitions organized by McEwen. Eschewing his mission background, he worked in oils and preferred to depict township scenes. As a jazz guitarist who played regularly in township shebeens, he often depicted the emerging urban party scene. These paintings moved away from straight realism, and their use of line and color was compared to Oskar Kokoschka. His job as Daily News cartoonist lasted for four years until the newspaper was banned. In 1965 the former Cyrene headmaster, Ned Paterson, hired Sambo as an art instructor at Nyarutsetso school in Salisbury. Unfortunately, the marriage between the old-fashioned missionary and the fast-living Sambo proved short-lived. Sambo, hanging out at Job Kekana's art school in Rusape, began painting male and female nudes using the live models that were hired there. Paterson, scandalized, fired Sambo, who never had a full-time job again. From the late 1960s on, Sambo worked out of his father's store in Rusape. After gaining a reputation with a series of risque murals painted at various drinking establishments in the Salisbury area, a stream of White buyers flocked to his father's store to buy his works. Due to suspicions caused by the ongoing Chimurenga liberation conflict, Sambo was suspected of being a sell-out. Eventually, his sports car was sabotaged in 1977 by ZANU members, leading to his untimely death. Sambo's paintings are in the collections of the

National Gallery of Zimbabwe The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) is a gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe, dedicated to the presentation and conservation of Zimbabwe's contemporary art and visual heritage. The original National Gallery of Rhodesia was designed and directed by ...

, the exhibition The Stars Are Bright and in many private collections. Two are in the

MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sambo, Kingsley 1936 births 1977 deaths Rhodesian guitarists Rhodesian painters Zimbabwean cartoonists