*** Her portraiture, capturing the essence of personality as well as likeness, has brought Diana Tetlow international as well as local recognition. Now, in a stunning solo exhibition at Heritage House, her art has entered a new dimension, revealing not the image of one person but an entire people and their land.

Her achievement is remarkable on several levels. First, and perhaps foremost, there is the sheer visual beauty of each of the 49 works displayed. Possessing the versatility to work with apparently equal ease in pastels, oils or watercolour, Diana Tetlow's formidable technique has reached the stage where it may be taken almost for granted, freeing her to give full rein to artistic sensibility.

An unerring sense of colour produces a fascinating contrast that ranges from softly smudged earth tones to the spare, limpid clarity of watercolour and the jewel-rich colours of her oils.

The fact that the people and land that she portrays are the legendary Maasai of East Africa adds a sense of poignancy and a timely historical perspective.

For this exhibition, appropriately entitled Elototo (Maa for `journey') grew out of several trips to Kenya and Tanzania where she lived in a remote Maasai village. Diana Tetlow's keen appreciation for the natural beauty of these warrior/herdsmen and the land of which they form an intrinsic part, was tempered by her realisation that their centuries-old nomadic way of life is threatened by Africa's rush to `progress' and inevitable urbanisation. And the ruthless promotion of tourism poses its own special, if subtle threat to the dignity of these people.

Diana Tetlow's response was to mount a personal campaign to record, through her pictures, their traditional way of life. The urgency of her task is reflected not only in the comprehensive collection of `sitters', the accuracy and loving detail with which she records their ceremonial and everyday dress and ornamental jewellry, but also in her sympathetic portrayal of that noble stature and natural grace that have elevated the Maasai as the epitome of romantic Africa.

Several superbly Maasai-carved sculptures and artifacts (including some wicked-looking spears) have been brought on loan from Tanzania and provide a touch of authenticity and atmosphere to the exhibition. Together with Diana Tetlow's ongoing collection of oral traditions and stories translated from the Maa language, they represent perhaps the first comprehensive attempt to preserve the Maasai heritage. Part of the proceeds from this exhibition are to be donated to her campaign.

It is impossible to select the highlights from this copious array of Africana, so it comes down to purely personal favourites. But who could resist the enchantingly named Shivery Shoulders, a young girl of exquisite facial beauty and sinuous grace, the Five Girl Friends seated companionably on a log and assuming the shadowy tones of the earth around them, or the pastel study of the Water Carrier, mother of Shivery Shoulders and poised with balletic grace within the El Grceo-like folds of her blue robes? Then there are warriors whose gleaming brown torsos are bedecked with ornaments, hair streaked with red and yellow ochre and framed with exotic headdress, and the wrinkled village elders whose faces reflect an indomitable stoicism.

Although the bulk of the show is in pastels, there are several very powerful oil studies, notably the portrait of Two Maasai Girls, whose strongly chiselled, pensive faces contrast with the decorative detail of their beaded caps.

Elototo, her magnificent oil study of the village elder, clad in scarlet robes and contemplating the lilac shadows of the distant mountains, is another unforgettable work, as is the more impressionistic style of The Basket Maker.

The story of the Maasai is also the story of the animals who share their land in such close proximity and Diana Tetlow has produced a breathtaking gallery of some of Africa's most exotic inhabitants, capturing perfectly the indolent grace of lounging lions, the tentative curiosity of the gangling giraffe, the nobility of the sad-eyed cheetah.

Mrs. Tetlow also confirms her mastery as a landscape painter, with several works that evoke the brilliant colours and expansive skies of Africa. This is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in Miramar, where a spear-carrying warrior strides over the horizon of the rolling Kenyan hills, the dramatic sweep of sunlight over the Marakot mountain, or the dazzling play of light and shade in The Lecture Tree.

Not surprisingly, over half of the works on show have already been sold, and while this is the bench mark of success, there is also on this occasion, a sense of regret that this unique collection of pictures cannot be retained in its entirety.

PATRICIA CALNAN SHIVERY SHOULDERS -- That is the nick-name given by artist Diana Tetlow to this young Maasai girl, one of the many pastel studies in her exhibition, Elototo.