François THANGO (Brazzaville, 1936 - 1981) - Lot 115

François THANGO (Brazzaville, 1936 - 1981) Mythical animals. Oil on canvas. 60 x 90 cm. Signed lower right. François Thango, remarked by Pierre Lods, is one of the founders of the Centre for African Arts in Poto-Poto (1951) in Brazzaville. He is an artist with a great sensibility, who sometimes retreats in the forest to regain contact with nature, plants and especially the animals depicted which appear in his later paintings. He exhibited his work at the World Fair in Brussels in 1958. In 1959, Thango settled in Kinshasa (then Leopoldville), where he was hired by Maurice Alhadeff, who founded ateliers and is considered the great patron of artists from Kinshasa in the 40s and 50s. This collaborative venture bore fruit and made Thango internationally renowned. At first Thango's paintings were simple, evoking silhouettes of dancers and market scenes. However, other themes soon appeared, such as hunting, in which he depicted a lush plant life or animals. His style became increasingly graphic on uniform two-dimensional composition with vivid colors...