Simon Mpata
Tanzanian painter (1942–1984)
Simon George Mpata (1942–1984) was a Tanzanian painter of the Tingatinga school. He was the youngest half-brother of Edward Tingatinga, founder of the school, and belonged to the restricted group of six students that were directly taught by Tingatinga himself. Among Tingatinga's students, Mpata is considered the most faithful to his teacher's style. Upon Edward Tingatinga's death, Mpata left Tanzania, moving to Nairobi, where he established his own studio. Mpata's art has received international acclaim, mostly thanks to Japanese magazine editor Kazumi Oguro, who was impressed by Mpata's art while visiting Kenya and later organized an exposition in New York and popularized Mpata's art in Japan.
“Simon Mpata” enters the record as tanzanian painter (1942–1984). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Simon, Mpata and Tanzanian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Simon Mpata” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Simon, Mpata and Tanzanian provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16856840. VIAF identifies the subject as 255852509. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942 and 1984.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Simon Mpata”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Simon Mpata primary sources, Simon Mpata archive and Simon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Simon Mpata”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Simon Mpata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.