In autumn 2025, the display case in the School of Art History hosts two mystery prints from East Africa. They belong to the Argyll Collection, an educational collection owned by Argyll and Bute, and currently managed by CHARTS. They were purchased in Uganda in the 1960s.
The artists, however, remain unknown.
Naomi Mitchison visited the Margaret Trowell School of Fine Arts at Makerere University College (Kampala) for the first time in 1963. In a letter after that trip she referred to “two new pictures from Africa,” then on their way to Scotland. We believe that one of these was Augustine Alirwana Mugalula Mukiibi’s etching, Modest Wealth (1963), now in the Argyll Collection. The second print is likely to be this one, below.
The signature looks like ‘K.Noréu’ but our research has not uncovered the artist’s name. The subject is believed to be a night heron, and the style suggests the work of a student of Michael Adams, who had recently founded Makerere’s printmaking programme. One fellow student, Catherine Nankya Katonoko Gombe, believed that this could be a European artist, who was a student in the 1960s.
What does the signature look like to you? Share your thoughts – https://tinyurl.com/3zhmmxd7
Mitchison returned to Makerere at least two more times in the 1960s. The etching below was likely purchased in spring 1965, when she bought other works for Argyll. The lines are freer and more expressive than the first print, but the subject, again, appears to be flora and fauna. The signature is unclear, though when shown the print in 2021, Adams was immediately impressed by what he described as the ‘free-wheeling line and perfect mastery of black-and-white form.’ He believed it could be the work of an artist called Balthazar Sanka, who was his ‘best engraver.’ We have not yet been able to make this attribution.
Can you work out the signature? Submit your suggestion – https://tinyurl.com/3zhmmxd7
Further reading / listening:
George Kyeyune, ‘Modern Art in Uganda,’ The Short Century Project, East African Museum of Art, Nairobi – https://the-short-century.eaman.org/unit_titles/modern-art-in-uganda/
Kate Cowcher, ‘Catherine Gombe’s Youth (1965) and Printmaking at Makerere University in the Independence Era,’ post: notes on art in a global context, Museum of Modern Art – https://post.moma.org/catherine-gombes-youth-1965-and-printmaking-at-makerere-uni
Transition magazine, for which Adams and his students provided cover and internal illustrations in the 1960s – https://transitionmagazine.fas.harvard.edu/issues/issue-10/
Dar to Dunoon podcast, Episode 3 (Art and Culture in East Africa) – https://dartodunoon.com/podcast-summary/
The Argyll Collection is managed by the Culture Heritage and Arts Assembly, Argyll and Isles (CHARTS), on behalf of Argyll and Bute Council, with additional support from Creative Scotland.