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Sculpture of Zimbabwe
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Sculpture of Zimbabwe
Sculpture and in particular stone sculpture is an art for which Zimbabwe is well known around the world.
Central Zimbabwe contains the "Great Dyke"—a source of serpentine rocks of many types including a hard variety locally called springstone. An early pre-colonial culture of Shona peoples settled the high plateau around 900 AD and “Great Zimbabwe”, which dates from about 1250–1450 AD, was a stone-walled town showing evidence in its archaeology of skilled stone working. The walls were made of a local granite and no mortar was used in their construction. When excavated, six soapstone birds and a soapstone bowl were found in the eastern enclosure of the monument; so art forms in soapstone were part of that early culture and local inhabitants were already artistically predisposed, fashioning works from various natural materials such as fibres, wood, clay, and stone for functional, aesthetic, and ritual purposes.
However, stone carving as art had no direct lineage to the present day and it was only in 1954 that its modern renaissance began. This was when Frank McEwen became advisor to the new Rhodes National Gallery to be built in Harare and from 1955 to 1973 was its founding director (it opened in 1957). He met with Thomas Mukarobgwa, a young indigenous artist steeped in rural knowledge and spirituality, and offered him an opportunity to pursue a career in art. Mukarobgwa became "the perfect mentor to guide the director of the new gallery into the ways and mores of the African people". It was an introduction to local artist Joram Mariga and his early soft stone carvings that prompted McEwen to encourage early soapstone carvers to create works that reflected their culture.
The Workshop School established by the gallery soon attracted more artists, many of whom had already been exposed to some form of art training from early mission schools and were established art practitioners. These included Joseph Ndandarika, John Takawira and Kingsley Sambo. Although the budding art movement was relatively slow to develop, it 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, Blomefield 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 Rhodesia’s white government, then 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.
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, and Bernard Takawira and his brother John. This group also includes the Mukomberanwa family (Nicholas Mukomberanwa and his protégés Anderson Mukomberanwa, Lawrence Mukomberanwa, Taguma Mukomberanwa, Netsai Mukomberanwa, Ennica Mukomberanwa, and Nesbert Mukomberanwa). All these artists have created works that have been exhibited worldwide, several of which are now included in the McEwen bequest to the British Museum.
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 that had none of the great sculptural heritage of West Africa and had previously been described in terms of the visual arts as artistically barren.
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 pre-independence period witnessed the honing of technical skills, the deepening of expressive power, the use of harder and different types of stones, and the creation of many outstanding works. The Shona sculpture movement was well underway and had many patrons and advocates.
Since independence in 1980, Shona 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 and the art form itself.
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Sculpture of Zimbabwe
Sculpture and in particular stone sculpture is an art for which Zimbabwe is well known around the world.
Central Zimbabwe contains the "Great Dyke"—a source of serpentine rocks of many types including a hard variety locally called springstone. An early pre-colonial culture of Shona peoples settled the high plateau around 900 AD and “Great Zimbabwe”, which dates from about 1250–1450 AD, was a stone-walled town showing evidence in its archaeology of skilled stone working. The walls were made of a local granite and no mortar was used in their construction. When excavated, six soapstone birds and a soapstone bowl were found in the eastern enclosure of the monument; so art forms in soapstone were part of that early culture and local inhabitants were already artistically predisposed, fashioning works from various natural materials such as fibres, wood, clay, and stone for functional, aesthetic, and ritual purposes.
However, stone carving as art had no direct lineage to the present day and it was only in 1954 that its modern renaissance began. This was when Frank McEwen became advisor to the new Rhodes National Gallery to be built in Harare and from 1955 to 1973 was its founding director (it opened in 1957). He met with Thomas Mukarobgwa, a young indigenous artist steeped in rural knowledge and spirituality, and offered him an opportunity to pursue a career in art. Mukarobgwa became "the perfect mentor to guide the director of the new gallery into the ways and mores of the African people". It was an introduction to local artist Joram Mariga and his early soft stone carvings that prompted McEwen to encourage early soapstone carvers to create works that reflected their culture.
The Workshop School established by the gallery soon attracted more artists, many of whom had already been exposed to some form of art training from early mission schools and were established art practitioners. These included Joseph Ndandarika, John Takawira and Kingsley Sambo. Although the budding art movement was relatively slow to develop, it 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, Blomefield 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 Rhodesia’s white government, then 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.
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, and Bernard Takawira and his brother John. This group also includes the Mukomberanwa family (Nicholas Mukomberanwa and his protégés Anderson Mukomberanwa, Lawrence Mukomberanwa, Taguma Mukomberanwa, Netsai Mukomberanwa, Ennica Mukomberanwa, and Nesbert Mukomberanwa). All these artists have created works that have been exhibited worldwide, several of which are now included in the McEwen bequest to the British Museum.
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 that had none of the great sculptural heritage of West Africa and had previously been described in terms of the visual arts as artistically barren.
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 pre-independence period witnessed the honing of technical skills, the deepening of expressive power, the use of harder and different types of stones, and the creation of many outstanding works. The Shona sculpture movement was well underway and had many patrons and advocates.
Since independence in 1980, Shona 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 and the art form itself.
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