Bela Sara (Congolese, born 1920)Eels, Yellow
signed 'BELA' (lower right); label inscribed with provenance (verso)
oil on board
59 x 88cm (23 1/4 x 34 5/8in).注脚Provenance
Collection of Mr. Nestor Seeuws, former curator at the Institut des Musées Nationaux du Zaire.
Acquired by Mr. Jo van Severen, Belgium.
By descent.


Bela is one of the better known members of the Lubumbashi painting atelier, an important modernist movement in central Africa. Established by amateur artist-patron Pierre Romain-Desfossés in the late 1940s, the atelier was variously known as "Le Hangar," the "Elisabethville Indigenous Art Studio" and the Académie des beaux arts and produced a significant body of successful decorative works.

Desfossés expounded a laissez-faire approach to teaching; however, he encouraged his students to work with certain palettes and look to "native" inspirations.