Travelling overland, whether by road or rail, can be a soothing experience when beautiful landscapes lull the mind into romantic imagination.

This was the subject of Klaus Hartmann’s exhibition titled “Somewhere between Kapiri Mposhi and Dar es Salaam,” which just concluded at the Nafasi Artspace, a fine arts academy and arts hub in Dar es Salaam.

A German, Hartmann, 56, is currently in Tanzania as part of a residency programme offered by Nafasi, which is hosting him for seven weeks. International artists have been invited to interact at Nafasi since 2010.

Hartmann is, however, no stranger to Tanzania, having been a regular visitor of his father, who pastored a church in Tanzania.

He also visited his sister who worked at the Muhimbili Hospital in the 1990s. Later, he came to Tanzania in 2011 and 2013 to teach at the TaSuBa College of Arts in Bagamoyo.

Capturing time and history

His paintings are mainly of single old buildings, some even in a state of decay, buildings no one would give a second glance to but Hartmann offers a single point of focus, giving them a sense of time and history that draws one in.

They are presented in detail brought out by colour, scale and texture, quite a feat considering these are buildings that swoosh by for those passing them on a train.

He said he was inspired when last year he travelled to Zambia for a residency and decided to return to Tanzania by train from Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es Salaam.

“The initial idea was to do some drawings and document some footage from the trip but during my time in the train my plan changed a little bit as there’s so much life in the Tazara,’’ said Hartmann.

He left for Germany but returned for the Nafasi residency and then got to complete the drawings from that trip.

He said it was easier to capture the exact colour tones and other minute details of the footage while living in Tanzania than if he had done them in a studio in Germany.

But Hartmann is also showing a few realist and impressionist works proving the extent of his skill as an artist.

My favourite is the red-bordered painting of a redbrick bungalow underneath the most beautiful star-studded sky. It exudes serenity through contrasts and texture.

The artist also used his residency to offer a weekly mentoring programme for fine art students of the Nafasi Academy.

“We’ve had three sets of resident artists this year, a duo from Switzerland and Berlin, a duo from the US and now Klaus from Berlin and next time well have an artist from Kinshasa,” said Rebecca Corey of Nafasi