Ray Nestor was born in India in October 1888. He came to Kenya in 1912 as a surveyor
and in 1932 - 1950 farmed at Kipkarren where he did most of his painting.
Ray Nestor died in England in June 1989.
Ray Nestor modesty as a printer stood between him and the wider recognition of his work.
He never courted publicity being content to record his impressions of a fascinating country and its diverse peoples for his
own satisfaction and that of his friends.
In all his time in Africa, Ray Nestor was seldom without his paints and sketch book,
alert to capture the fugitive moment:
- An old woman in her beads and bangles drawing on her long pipe
- A dhow in full sail beyond the coral reef outside Mombasa harbour
- The stupendous view from his farm house over down and forest,
rolling away towards Mount Elgon;
- A pair of rhinos threading their way through the bush under the snows of Kilimanjaro
These sketches are what they claim to be, with all their freshness sponteneity and transcience
of the sketch as against the setpiece.
The dragonfly of art, as against the studied landscape over which it hovers.
|
|
|
