Gaspard DE MOUKO (Xxe) Portrait, circa 1940 Oil... Lot 6

Gaspard DE MOUKO (Xxe) Portrait, circa 1940 Oil on canvas signed and located P. Noire lower right 60 x 45 cm Provenance : Private collection, France Gaspard de Mouko, influential painter Gaspard de Mouko is a Cameroonian portrait and landscape painter, pioneer of the genre in sub-Saharan Africa. Gaspard de Mouko's first known works date from the late 1930s, preceding those of artists such as Ben Enwonwu and Gérard Sekoto, who enjoyed great success on the Anglo-Saxon art market. A travelling artist, he went to Congo Brazzaville in the early 1940s and then Abidjan in the 1950s. His painting quickly met with great success. He painted portraits of politicians such as General de Gaulle and the first deputy Jean-Félix Tchikaya. A very influential painter, it was he who introduced modern painting to Congo Brazzaville and became the leader of the first generation of independent painters in this country.