Ernesto Shikhani, (Mozambican , 1934-2010)

Libertação dos Povos Negros 39 1/16 x 19 11/16in (99.25 x 50cm)

Libertação dos Povos Negros
signed and dated 'SHIKHANI/ 74' (upper right); inscribed '-1- Libertação dos Povos Negros' (verso)
oil on canvas
39 1/16 x 19 11/16in (99.25 x 50cm)

Provenance
Acquired by Mr Guglielmo Riccitelli in East Africa in the late 1970s.
By direct descent to the current owner.

Shikhani and his contemporaries, the artists Malangatana and Chissano, were part of a prominent group of artists in Mozambique who played a key role in broadening aesthetic reciprocity across Africa, Europe and the USA.

Following his first solo show in Maputo in 1968, Shikhani was awarded a scholarship from the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon in 1973. The grant enabled the artist to exhibit internationally.

However, when his works went on display in Lisbon, their overtly political nature and nationalist sentiment soon attracted the attention of the PIDE (Portuguese International and State Defense Police). The exhibition was shut down and Shikani's works confiscated.

At the time this painting was executed, a ceasefire had just been negotiated been FRELIMO and Portugal, bringing a decade of violence to an end. This was a pivotal moment for the artist, finally freed from the constraints of colonial censorship.