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Sculpture of Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe Sculpture: a Tradition in Stone, Atlanta, USA, at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International
Airport between concourses T and A
Stone sculpture is an art for which the African nation of Zimbabwe is well known around the world.
Modern African stone sculpture is not "traditional", although much of its subject matter has traditional
roots. There were few, if any, individual sculptors working in stone in the first half of the 20th century
but following the opening in 1957 of the Rhodes National Gallery in Salisbury, its first Director, Frank
McEwen, encouraged local artists to explore that medium. Within a few years, a group of local artists
including Thomas Mukarobgwa, Joram Mariga and his nephew John Takawira were learning the
necessary skills, mainly carving in soapstone. This budding art movement was relatively slow to develop
but was given massive impetus in 1966 by Tom Blomefield, a white South-African-born farmer of
tobacco whose farm at Tengenenge near Guruve had extensive deposits of serpentine stone suitable for
carving. A sculptor in stone himself, he wanted to diversify the use of his land and welcomed new
sculptors onto it to form a community of working artists. This was in part because at that time there
were international sanctions against Rhodesias white government led by Ian Smith, who had declared
Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, and tobacco was no longer able to generate sufficient
income. Appropriately, Tengenenge means The Beginning of the Beginning in this case of a
significant new enterprise that has lasted through to the present day.

Further details of the establishment of the "first generation" of new Shona sculptors are given in the
individual biographies of its leading members: Bernard Matemera, Sylvester Mubayi, Henry
Mukarobgwa, Thomas Mukarobgwa, Henry Munyaradzi, Joram Mariga, Joseph Ndandarika, Bernard
Takawira and his brother John. This group also includes the famed Mukomberanwa family (Nicholas
Mukomberanwa and his protegees Anderson Mukomberanwa, Lawrence Mukomberanwa, Taguma
Mukomberanwa, Netsai Mukomberanwa, Ennica Mukomberanwa, and Nesbert Mukomberanwa) whose
works have been featured worldwide. Works by several of these first generation artists are included in
the McEwen bequest to the British Museum.[1]

During its early years of growth, the nascent "Shona sculpture movement" was described as an art
renaissance, an art phenomenon and a miracle. Critics and collectors could not understand how an art
genre had developed with such vigour, spontaneity and originality in an area of Africa which had none of
the great sculptural heritage of West Africa and had previously been described in terms of the visual arts
as artistically barren.[2][3][4][5]

Fifteen years of sanctions against Rhodesia limited the international exposure of the sculpture.
Nevertheless, owing mainly to the efforts of Frank McEwen, the work was shown in several international
exhibitions, some of which are listed below. This period pre-independence witnessed the honing of
technical skills, the deepening of expressive power, use of harder and different stones and the creation
of many outstanding works. The "Shona sculpture movement" was well underway and had many
patrons and advocates.

1963 New Art from Rhodesia, Commonwealth Arts Festival, Royal Festival Hall, London
1968-9 New African Art: The Central African Workshop School, MOMA, New York (Toured in USA)
1969 Contemporary African Arts, Camden Arts Centre, London.
1970 Sculptures Contemporaine de Vukutu, Muse dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1971 Sculpture Contemporaine des Shonas dAfrique, Muse Rodin, Paris
1971 Gallery 101, Johannesburg
1971 Artists Gallery, Cape Town
1972 Shona sculptures of Rhodesia, ICA Gallery, London
1972 Galerie Helliggyst, Copenhagen
1972 MOMA, New York
1979 Kunst Aus Africa, Berlin. Staatlichen Kunstalle went to Bremen and Stockholm
1979 Feingarten Gallery, Los Angeles
Post-Independence[edit]
Since independence in 1980, the sculpture has continued to be exhibited in the art capitals of the world
and great acclaim has accrued to contemporary artists such as Dominic Benhura and Tapfuma Gutsa[6]
and the art form itself.

Support and encouragement has come from many sources.

Sponsors of a variety of Sculpture communities, of which those at Tengenenge [7] and Chapungu [8]
have been most influential. Further Communities have developed post-independence, for example the
Chitungwiza Arts Centre, which was an initiative involving the United Nations Development Programme
and the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education and Culture, who provided the land.
Commercial sponsors in Zimbabwe, including the Baringa Corporation, the Nedlaw Investment and Trust
Corporation, Zimre Holdings Limited, BAT (who part-fund the Workshop School of the National Gallery)
and Mobil (who support the "Zimbabwe Heritage" annual exhibition at the Gallery).
The Zimbabwean Government, especially through its support for the National Gallery, which now has
regional centres in Bulawayo and Mutare.
Patrons who buy works or write forewords to catalogues for international exhibitions. Examples of well-
known individuals include Richard Attenborough, Richard E. Grant and Joshua Nkomo.
A group of specialist dealers who display the works in their Galleries worldwide and communicate their
own enthusiasm for this art form to visitors, who by viewing, purchasing and enjoying the objects spread
that enthusiasm around.
Roy Guthrie quoted from a 1991 article in The Sunday Telegraph in his introduction to an exhibition in
South Africa [9] to remind art lovers that

"There is a widespread assumption today that art must necessarily be international.... But against this
trend one finds isolated pockets of resistance, which suggest that good art can (and perhaps must) be a
local affair the product of a particular place and culture. And one of the most remarkable in the
contemporary world is the school of sculptors that has flourished among the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe in
the last 30 years... placed beside the dismal stuff so beloved of the international art bureaucracy as
they were in the 1990 Biennale these African carvings shine out in a desolate world."

In spite of increasing worldwide demand for the sculptures, as yet little of what McEwen feared might
just be an "airport art" style of commercialisation has occurred. The most dedicated of artists display a
high degree of integrity, never copying and still working entirely by hand, with spontaneity and a
confidence in their skills, unrestricted by externally imposed ideas of what their "art" should be. Now,
over fifty years on from the first tentative steps towards a new sculptural tradition, many Zimbabwean
artists make their living from full-time sculpting and the very best can stand comparison with
contemporary sculptors anywhere else. The sculpture they produce speaks of fundamental human
experiences - experiences such as grief, elation, humour, anxiety and spiritual search - and has always
managed to communicate these in a profoundly simple and direct way that is both rare and extremely
refreshing. The artist 'works' together with his stone and it is believed that 'nothing which exists
naturally is inanimate'- it has a spirit and life of its own. One is always aware of the stone's contribution
in the finished sculpture and it is indeed fortunate that in Zimbabwe a magnificent range of stones are
available from which to choose: hard black springstone, richly coloured serpentine and soapstones, firm
grey limestone and semi-precious Verdite and Lepidolite.[10][11][12][13]

Jonathan Zilberg has pointed out that there is a parallel market within Zimbabwe for what he calls flow
sculptures whose subject-matter is the family (ukama in Shona) and which are produced throughout
the country, from suburban Harare to Guruve in the north-eastern and Mutare in the east. These readily
available and cheap forms of sculpture are, he believes, of more interest to local black Zimbabweans
than the semi-abstract figurative sculptures of the type mainly seen in museums and exported to
overseas destinations. The flow sculptures are still capable of demonstrating innovation in art and most
are individually carved, in styles that are characteristic of the individual artists.[14]

Some sculptors in Zimbabwe work in media other than stone. For example, at Zimbabwe Heritage 1988,
Paul Machowani won an Award of Distinction for his metal piece "Ngozi" and in 1992 Joseph Chanotas
metal piece "Thinking of the Drought" won the same award. Bulawayo has been a centre for metal
sculpture, with artists such as David Ndlovu and Adam Madebele. Arthur Azevedo, who works in Harare
and creates welded metal sculptures, won the Presidents Award of Honour at the First Mobil Zimbabwe
Heritage Biennale in 1998.[15] Wood carving has a long history in Zimbabwe and some of its leading
exponents are Zephania Tshuma and Morris Tendai.[3]

International Exhibitions[edit]
1982 Janet Fleischer Gallery, Philadelphia, USA
1984 Henry of Tengenenge, Commonwealth Institute, London
1985 Kustchatze aus Africa, Frankfurt, Germany
1985 Henry of Tengenenge, Feingarten Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
1989 Zimbabwe op de Berg, Foundation Beelden op de Berg, Wageningen, The Netherlands
1990 Contemporary Stone Carving from Zimbabwe, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, UK
1990 Zimbabwe Heritage (National Gallery of Zimbabwe), Auckland, New Zealand
1994 The Magic of Henry, Contemporary Fine Art Gallery Eton, Berkshire, UK
2000 Chapungu: Custom and Legend A Culture in Stone, Kew Gardens, UK
2001 Tengenenge Art, Celia Winter-Irving, World Art Foundation, The Netherlands
Permanent exhibition, Zimbabwe Sculpture: a Tradition in Stone, Atlanta, USA, at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport. Works by Agnes Nyanhongo, Gedion Nyanhongo, Norbert Shamuyarira,
Lameck Bonjisi, Edronce Rukodzi, Sylvester Mubayi, Joe Mutasa, Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Gladman
Zinyeka, Tapfuma Gutsa, and Amos Supuni.[16]
References and Further Reading[edit]
This page was last modified on 6 July 2014 at 12:44.
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