Tingatinga – The First Students
Adeusi Mandu Mmatambwe (deceased, date unknown)
A close friend of E.S. Tingatinga and of Makonde origin, Adeusi belonged to the first generation of the Tingatinga school of painters. He later trained several artists who would become part of the second generation.
Abdallah Ajaba (... – 2003)
A cousin of E.S. Tingatinga, Ajaba was known for including flying insects such as tsetse flies in his paintings. He retired to southern Tanzania and passed away in 2003, having stopped painting a few years after Tingatinga’s death.
John Linda Amba (January Linda) (1947 – deceased, date unknown)
Born in Mozambique and of Makonde origin, January Linda was introduced to Tingatinga through Tingatinga’s wife. He assisted with preparing paintings in the late 1960s and soon developed his own expressive, “savage” style. After Tingatinga’s death, he moved to Bagamoyo and ended his painting career.
Simon G. Mpata (1942 – 1984)
The youngest half-brother of E.S. Tingatinga, Mpata learned directly from him and remained the artist whose style stayed closest to Tingatinga’s. After Tingatinga’s death, he refused to train new recruits and moved to Nairobi, where he opened his own studio and worked until his death in 1984.
Kaspar Henrick Tedo (deceased, date unknown)
A cousin of Edward Tingatinga and one of his first students. Tedo was wounded in the same police chase that resulted in Tingatinga’s death.
Source: “Tinga-Tinga, the popular paintings from Tanzania”, Y. Goscinny