Malangatana Ngwenya
| Malangatana Ngwenya | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Malangatana Valente Ngwenya June 6, 1936 Matalana, Portuguese Mozambique |
| Died | 5 January 2011 (aged 74) Matosinhos, Portugal |
| Nationality | Mozambican |
| Other names | Malangatana |
| Occupation | Artist, poet |
Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (6 June 1936 – 5 January 2011) was a Mozambican painter and poet. He frequently exhibited work under his first name alone, as Malangatana. He died on 5 January 2011 in Matosinhos, Portugal.
Born in Matalana, a village in the south of Portuguese Mozambique, Ngwenya spent his early life attending mission schools and helping his mother on the farm. At the age of 12 he went to the city of Lourenço Marques (now Maputo) to find work, becoming ball boy for a tennis club in 1953. This allowed him to resume his education, and he took night classes, through which he developed an interest in art. Augusto Cabral, a member of the tennis club, gave him materials and helped him to sell his art.
In 1958 Ngwenya attended some functions of Nucleo de Arte, a local artists' organization, and received support from the painter Ze Julio. The next year Ngwenya exhibited publicly for the first time, as part of a group show; two years later came his first solo exhibition, at the age of 25. In 1963 some of his poetry was published in the literary magazine Black Orpheus, and his work was included in the anthology Modern Poetry from Africa.
In 1964, Ngwenya, who had joined the nationalistic FRELIMO guerrilla, was detained by the PIDE, the Portuguese secret police of the Estado Novo regime, and spent 18 months in jail. He was given a grant from the Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Foundation in 1971, and studied engraving and ceramics in Portugal, Europe. Back to Mozambique, Africa, his art was exhibited several times in both Lourenço Marques and Lisbon until Independence.
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