Alan Donovan, the influential American-born Kenyan art collector and co-founder of the African Heritage House in Nairobi, passed away on December 5, 2021, at the age of 83.
Alan was deeply respected for his work in promoting African art and culture, and he had dedicated his life to collecting and preserving unique African artifacts. He co-founded African Heritage in 1972 with former Vice President of Kenya Joseph Murumbi, creating what became known as Africa’s first pan-African gallery and cultural center. The African Heritage House, his home and gallery, remains an iconic location showcasing traditional African art and architecture and stands as a lasting legacy of his contributions to the arts.
Alan Donovan arrived in Africa on July 4 1967 with the US State Department as a relief officer during the Nigerian-Biafra war. He resigned his post in 1969, bought a Volkswagen bus in Paris, and travelled through the Sahara Desert to Nigeria. During his African odyssey, he encountered the magnificent mud mosques of Mali and other examples of African pre-colonial mud architecture. He then drove across the Congo to Kenya, arriving in Nairobi in March 1970. Thereafter he spent several months with the peoples of the Northern Frontier District of Kenya. He held his first exhibition of art and material culture from the Turkana and other peoples of Northern Kenya in October 1970. It was then he met Joseph Murumbi, the former Vice President of Kenya, and Africa’s most notable private collector. Together, with Murumbi’s wife, Sheila, they opened African Heritage, the first Pan African gallery on the African continent, in 1972.
Through African Heritage, Alan Donovan has played a unique role in the cultural affairs of Kenya, and fostering the ideals of Pan Africanism with Joseph Murumbi.
Pan African Festivals
FIRST, there were the Pan African Festivals which Alan curated and organized, including several from the island country of the Malagasy Republic, and a massive festival from Nigeria held in Nairobi during the First Pan African Trade Fair in 1972. He presented the first fashion show in Nairobi with all African models, all Nigerian fabrics, and his own designs of African Heritage Jewellery. In later years, he organized the largest street festival ever held in Nairobi for the city’s centennial celebrations, and a few years later, a tour of 23 Kenyan hotels to bring in the Millenium.
African Heritage Jewellery
THEN there was the African Heritage Jewellery: stunning creations from ancient beads and components, from all parts of Africa. For several decades, African Heritage Jewellery was the continent’s largest exporter of jewellery and adornment from Africa. The innovative Global Jewellery was sold exclusively through the original Banana Republic stores in the USA.
African Heritage Gallery
LATER there was African Heritage Ltd, Africa’s first Pan African Gallery, which he co-founded with the former vice-president of Kenya, Mr. Joseph Murumbi and his wife, Sheila. The World Bank called it “the largest and most organized craft organization in Africa…a pioneer that raised African handicrafts from souvenir trinkets to Objet d’art with world class appeal”. When African Heritage closed in 2003, it had more than 500 full time employees, over 50 outlets around the world, and many thousands supplying items on a consignment basis. The Tuesday African Heritage Buying Day morphed into the Maasai Markets, which are now held every day at locations in Nairobi and beyond.
Kenya’s African Heritage Festival
FOLLOWING was Kenya’s African Heritage Festival, a galaxy of authentic African costumes, music, dance, original African fashions created of the hand-woven and hand- printed textiles of Africa, and cuisine that travelled the world for over three decades. The African Heritage Band(s) emerged from this festival along with many other African musical groups. A young musician and his group called Papillon are the latest sensation.
African Heritage House
LATER, Alan Donovan constructed the African Heritage House, based on the continent’s pre-colonial mud architectures — and the Swahili houses of Coastal East Africa – he encountered during his travels across the continent. The prestigious Architectural Digest described the house as “rising from the sere Kenyan plain, like an outcropping of earth, a vision of usefulness informed by the African genius for decoration.”
African Heritage Book
THEN, there was Alan Donovan’s memoir, entitled “My Journey through African Heritage” which, like his house, is a unique documentary you’ll not forget about a people, a country, and a man who would not give up as a promoter and catalyst of art and culture in Africa and throughout the world.
Murumbi Legacy
AFTER African Heritage closed in 2003, Alan formed the Murumbi Trust with several friends of the Murumbi’s. Under his direction, the Trust rehabilitated, repaired and displayed the Murumbi legacy at The Murumbi Gallery in the Kenya National Archives, The Nairobi Gallery at the old PC’s office in the city centre, and a sculpture garden at the Murumbi Peace Memorial in City Park. In 2015, Alan released “A Path Not Taken”, the Story of Joseph Murumbi”, based on Murumbi’s own transcripts.
Interior Design
THROUGHOUT his time in Kenya, Alan has created African interiors and African displays with such clients as the Serena Hotels, The Carnivore, Tamambo, and Strathmore University as well as for private residents.
Homestays at African Heritage House
He continues to host countless guests at the African Heritage House with overnight stays, tours, meals, events and train trips to the house.
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Courtesy of Msafiri Magazine
Lifetime Achievement Awards
African Handmade LifeTime Achivement Award 2015
Alan Donovan, co founder of African Heritage with the late Joseph and Sheila Murumbi, is seen here receiving the African Handmade LifeTime Achivement Award for over four decades of preserving, protecting and promoting African culture from Naomi Cedi, women’s leader from the coast, and long time supporter of African Heritage. Looking on is presenter Margaretta wa Gacheru and Africa Handmade originator, Christine Gitau.
Afrika Handmade Lifetime Achievement Award
30 Years of Visionary Leadership in the Arts of Africa
Margaret Kenyatta, former Mayor of Nairobi, presents a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pan African Broadcasting, Heritage and Achievement Awards in South Africa, for “Thirty Years of Visionary Leadership in the Arts” and “The best gallery in Africa, African Heritage” during the African Heritage 30th Anniversary Celebrations in 2002. Looking on is Jerry Okungu, the local organizer for the awards.
Alan Donovan addressing the OAU in Abidjan regarding the African Heritage Experience.
Kenya Fashionweek Award 2016
Alan Donovan holding the Fashionweek Award between the directors of Kenya Fashionweek, Athman Ngau and Galina Tatarinova.
