Julius Njau - Artist Profile

Julius Njau was born in 1961 in Marangu, Moshi in Tanzania. He attended the Kilimanjaro Primary School and the Moshi Technical Secondary School where he graduated. His career as an artist started when he began to paint while he had to spend two years in hospital after he broke his leg badly in 1972. There he was treated by a Finnish X-ray specialist who was the first to encourage his art, buying materials for him, and works from him. She organized his first exhibition in Finland in 1983. His early works were representaional, working with the themes of his people's traditions and wildlife. 1984 saw a dramatic change in his technique and style as he shifted into the abstract. His paintings are constructed from the interplay of primary colors and the intermingling of obscured shapes. Julius Njau's vast work has been collected by the Prefecture of Osaka, and the Museum of Modern Art Toyama in Japan, the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt, and Galerie ZAK (Zeitgenossische afrikanische Kunst), Furth in Germany, Amos Anderson Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, and 5th British Museum, England. In 2002, Julius Njau received the Nagoya Mayor's Prize and in 2003 he was awarded the Grand Prize in the Toyama Prefecture's International Competition for the "Sukiyaki Meets the World" Festival Poster Design. Julius Njau is a founding member and President of Marafiki - Friendship and Art.

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