JOSEPH THIONGO's
African Artwork of Wildlife & Maasai

- This page contains only a sample of Joseph's artwork. To see his entire collection, go to his African Art Paintings Store Page -

Joseph Thiongo's Biography

True African Art.com met with African Artist Joseph Thiongo on four separate ocassions during trips to Africa over the recent years. His original paintings are of such good quality that we chose two of them to be combined as our True African Art.com logo!

Joseph Thiongo is a very classy fellow: proud of his artwork, proud of his country, and proud of his family. He and his wife, Caroline, have two children. Their son also has a great interest in drawing.

Watch True African Art.com's VIDEO INTERVIEW with JOSEPH THIONGO below

A self-taught African artist at 42 years young, Joseph Thiongo went to High School at Kabete in Kenya, East Africa. Before graduating in 1985, he remembers drawing maps in Geography class. His teacher recognized his accuracy and detail in these maps. Joseph says he remembers being encouraged by this teacher who said he could be an artist.

Painting mostly in watercolors, Thiongo is a magnet for Kenya's African landscapes and villages. Clouds are shown brightly in some of his larger paintings while Maasai village life is expressed concisely as it appears when seen for the first time on the African landscape. Painting in semi abstracts, Thiongo's realistic animals are contrasted with an abstract background that shows the vivid colors one might imagine seeing when they first lay their eyes on African wildlife.

Here is some of what Joseph says about his African art in his own words: "I observe my environment everywhere I am for ideas and inspiration for my artwork. I also get structural ideas of wildlife figures and their environment from actual wildlife parks. When I am in Nairobi and can't get to the parks to paint, I have a collection of books and DVD's that feature angles of what wildlife and landscapes Kenya has." Joseph Thiongo's favorite place to paint though is in the living room while his family watches him with support as he creates an African painting masterpiece...

...Concluded on Joseph Thiongo's additional biography page (which includes a picture of Gathinja, Website Owner, with his family)


We captured this laughing moment with Joseph (middle) and his loved ones. They are holding one of Joseph's African wildlife paintings, "Gathering at Kilimanjaro," which has since sold.	This is a close up of one of Joseph's paintings, which has since sold.