ZAMBIA’S MR. WATERFALLS:
QUENTIN ALLEN Brush Strokes and Bush Lore By: Nicky Dunnington-Jefferson Photos: Nicky Dunnington-Jefferson
School of Arts and Crafts in London, qualifying as a silversmith and gaining a degree in threedimensional design. He returned to Zambia in 1979 to work at Tengu Copper Products in Kitwe. Quentin’s family left Zambia in 1986 to live in the UK and he followed, only to return after six months to Zambia, where he has lived ever since.
He moved from Kitwe to Lusaka in 1990 to work with ZAL Holdings, followed by a partnership with Zambia Gemstones. As a silversmith he had worked on jewellery, spoons, bowls and silver first met Quentin Allen in the bar at Pioneer sculptures on wood, but had become more involved Safari Camp. He was drinking a cold Mosi beer, his in painting, favouring landscapes, using pastels, characteristic bush hat clamped tightly on his head. acrylics, watercolours and oils. Eventually he decided to devote himself full-time to painting, We were thrown together by Zambia-based Leslie setting up a studio in his home and concentrating Nevison of Mama Tembo Tours, who fine-tuned my solely on brushwork, and holding exhibitions to three-week itinerary. I had accompanied Leslie on showcase his bold, illuminative canvases. a recce to Gabon in 2014 after meeting her once. Now I was to set off again with a companion about This artist’s brush evokes the spirit of Zambia; whom I knew nothing except that he was an artist some works are joyous with bright colours, others of considerable repute. calm with the muted shades of dawn and dusk. You can almost hear the cry of a fish eagle, the cheep Quentin was more than an outstanding artist. of a tiny bird, the trumpeting of an elephant or the He was a superb guide, a true bushman in every thunderous roar of waterfalls as his subjects speak sense, with a remarkable knowledge of Zambia through his canvases. – particularly its waterfalls – and the flora and fauna. He was also an experienced driver. Together Quentin’s work came to the attention of Ilse we explored northern Zambia, wondering at Mwanza, resulting in their co-authorship of two wildlife and rock art, he with his sketchbook and books, Guide to Little-Known Waterfalls of Zambia, me with my camera. Together Mr. Waterfalls and I Volumes I and II, published in 2010 and 2014. marvelled at the cascading cataracts of Kundalila “Ilse is also a cataractophile,” he told me, and she Falls on the Kaombe River. has accompanied him on many of his waterfall expeditions. I needed to know more about my unfailingly cheerful, thoughtful, patient, amusing, modest and In 2011, Quentin spent a year camping and hiking, delightfully eccentric companion. exploring eastern Zambia’s Muchinga Escarpment. Often accompanied by Matthew Mandandi, they Quentin Allen was born in Bulawayo in 1957, the searched for more waterfalls to collect material second of four brothers. His father worked for for the second book. This book contains intriguing Rhodesian Railways and Quentin was only two anecdotal accounts and information, illustrated when the family moved to Northern Rhodesia, now with beautiful photographs and Quentin’s evocative Zambia. They settled in Kitwe, on the Copperbelt, sketches. “It was wonderful to watch the seasons where the young Quentin grew up and started his changing, always seeing new things, sketching new education. He went on to school in South Africa’s features and exploring new areas,” he reflected. Eastern Cape, followed by Wellingborough School in England. It was at Wellingborough that his art I asked what inspired his love of the outdoors. He teacher noticed his artistic potential. “I always replied that his family spent many happy times drew, and I used to make up stories and illustrate camping and he inherited his consuming passion them,” he told me. for waterfalls from his father. “I’ve never grown up,” he said. “With a childhood like that, who wants to?” After school he studied in the UK at Sheffield I’m so glad he hasn’t. Polytechnic Art College and the Camberwell
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