Stone sculpture is an art for which the African nation of Zimbabwe is well known around the

world.
Contents
1 Origins
2 Post-Independence
3 International Exhibitions
4 References and Further Reading
5 See also
Origins[edit source | edit]
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 source | 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.
1. 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.
2. 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).
3. The Zimbabwean Government, especially through its support for the National Gallery,
which now has regional centres in Bulawayo and Mutare.
4. 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.
5. 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 source | 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 source | edit]
1. ^ "McEwen Collection". britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
2. ^ Arnold M I. (1981) "Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture". Louis Bolze Publishing,
Bulawayo. ISBN 0797407472
3. ^
a

b
Mor F. (1987) "Shona Sculpture". Jongwe Printing and Publishing Co, Harare. ISBN
0797407812
4. ^ Winter-Irving C. (1991). "Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe", Roblaw Publishers, Harare,
ISBN 0908309147 (Paperback) ISBN 0908309112 (Cloth bound)
5. ^ Sultan, O. (1994) "Life in Stone: Zimbabwean Sculpture Birth of a Contemporary Art
Form". ISBN 9781779090232
6. ^ Spring C. (2008) "Angaza Africa: African Art now", Laurence King Publishing, ISBN
9781856695480
7. ^ Leyten, H. (1994) "Tengenenge", Kasteel Groenveld, Baarn, Netherlands. ISBN
9074281052
8. ^ Guthrie R (2000) "Chapungu: Custom and Legend A Culture in Stone". Exhibition
Catalogue for Kew ASIN B001ANIIXW
9. ^ Guthrie R. (1997) "Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture". Catalogue for exhibition at
Kirstenbosch, Printed by Scanshop, Cape Town
10. ^ Kasfir S L. (2000). "Contemporary African Art", Thames and Hudson, London. ISBN
0500203288
11. ^ Willett F (2002). "African Art", Thames and Hudson, London ISBN 0500203644
12. ^ Winter-Irving C. (2004) "Pieces of Time: An anthology of articles on Zimbabwes
stone sculpture published in The Herald and Zimbabwe Mirror 1999-2000". Mambo
Press, Zimbabwe, ISBN 0869227815
13. ^ Kasfir S L. (2007). African Art and the Colonial Encounter: Inventing a Global
Commodity. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253219221
14. ^ Zilberg J. (2006) [1] National Gallery archive
15. ^ See annual catalogues for Zimbabwe Heritage, produced by the National Gallery
16. ^ "Zimbabwe Sculpture", Atlanta Airport Site
2. Frank McEwen and Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture
3. Joceline Mawdsley Former Exhibitions Curator Chapungu Sculpture Park, Harare,
Zimbabwe
4. "The majority of the arttsts in this country are Shona, a thoguhtful, profound and
sweet people that is inclined to mysticism and armed with an in.finite patience.
The older Shona live from the land and have retairled their mystical beliefs,
profound in a magical world of ancestral and trihal spirrts. ........ Boday, the Shona
artist, in between hvo worlds, the new and the old, feels a needfor expression, and
to mark his presence, in a new domain, relies on his rtch mystical heritage. His
inspirations come from the mythical religion and the symbolism of the elders,
through meditation, dreams and dreaming "
5. Thus wrote Frank McEwen in 1971 for the catalogue of the Musee Rodin exhibition in
Paris - one of the first major international exhibitions of Zimbabwean stone sculpture.
Many regard him as the 'founder' of the movement and his words here provide an insight
into its early days. They also serve as an assessment of the situation in which he found
himself and of the future creative potential that he saw within the Zimbabwean people.
6. When Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia (it gained its Independence in 1980), it was decided
that a National Gallery of Art should be built in its capital, Salisbury. In l954 Frank
McEwen was asked to act as a consultant on the design of the gallery, as well as its
permanent collection and future direction. At that time he was working in Paris as the
Fine Arts representative of the British Council lived there since 1926. As a result
McEwen had many valuable contacts and friends within European art circles and
important experience necessary to direct a new gallery.
7. McEwen had been brought up in a house filled with art, including, significantly, fine
examples of early African carving. His love of genuine creativity, born from these
experiences, was later to be further influenced by the teachings of Gustave Moreau.
These centred on the belief that true art is inherent within an individual; not taught or
disciplined, but emanating from a person's spirit and natural desire to create. As McEwen
was to write later,
8. "Art is a visual experience, entering the spirit by the eye to touch the
subconscious and evolve. It must be free from the menace of those volumes of
verbiage produced by some critics who neglect the visualfor the intellectual and
make art part of a fashionable game. It is the direct visual identification 10 with
harmony that can inspire a whole lifetime. "
9. It was on this basis that he was to work in Zimbabwe, gently guiding and 'defending' the
new sculptors, always aiming to establish environments in which such 'natural' work
could be created and appreciated.
10. Towards the end of his years in Paris, such beliefs were becoming increasingly difficult
to maintain. Artists such as Matisse, Picasso, Brancusi, Braque and Leger occupied 'star'
status but new, younger talents were following paths that seemed, to McEwen, trivial by
comparison. His disillusionment finally led him to write a somewhat controversial
introduction to an exhibition catalogue in 1952. In this he expressed his view that,
11. "If some new vital art exists or is about to exist, it wiil occur elsewhere, imagined
and created collectively in a different walk of life with a different raison d'etre. It
will not depend upon the whims of art critics, but upon some original
manifestation of the artistic mind, prompted by a new environment "
12. In writing this he had unwittingly predicted the future role of art in Africa and had
positioned himself for the challenge that lay ahead of him.
13. On the advice of Herbert Read, Frank McEwen accepted the post of Director of the
National Gallery of Zimbabwe (then called the Rhodes National Gallery}. As he watched
the new building rise he was introduced to the ways and beliefs of the Shona people by a
man called Thomas Mukarobgwa. They talked every day and Frank McEwen's open
mind and heart (unusual at this time in colonial Rhodesia) ensured that much was
discussed that was rarely shared with Europeans.
14. The intentions of the Gallery had been to exhibit art treasures from all over the
'developed' world, and not those of African cultures, but its new Director very quickly
realised the artistic potential of the indigenous people around him. Using the ideas
practised in his art workshop in Toulon, he quietly began encouraging local people to try
their hand at art - initially, it would appear, in media with which they were familiar
(ceramics, basketwork and weaving). But he also introduced the disciplines of European
expression - most notably, painting on canvas. Hard facts about the precise order of this
early development are difficult to place, but it is suggested in discussions with the earliest
artists that McEwen encouraged the technigues of sculpture after seeing early work by
men as Joram Mariga who, at that time had broken away from the use of soft stones and
was experimenting with harder materials and more individualistic expression and themes.
It must be remembered that there was already carving of a sort in Zimbabwe in the Fifties
and Sixties.
15. Having introduced the art audiences of Paris to Henry Moore (organising the first Paris
exhibition of the sculptor's work in 1945) McEwen brought to Rhodesia celebrated art
treasures from Europe.
16. "shows of European masters from Rembrandt to Picasso, from mediaeval tapestry to
Lurcat, with works lent from the Louvre, the Rijksmuseum, The StedeliJk, and London 's
National and Tate Galleries. "
17. But, perhaps more significantly, he brought to the attention of the Rhodesian citizens the
innovative dynamism within the creative expression of the indigenous African people.
This was contrary to the initial proposals of the authorities and he encountered consistent
difficulties as well as an absence of support or pride in the work..
18. McEwen's role as spiritual 'leader' and, to some extent, 'protector' of the movement
continued to the end of his Directorship in 1973. Soon after the initial interest from
international collectors and organisations, McEwen sought a new venue for his Workshop
School. Fearful of commercial pressures on the young work, he enlisted the help of
sculptor, Sylvester Mubayi in establishing a rural community in the powerful
environment of the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe - the Nyanga district - and named it
Vukutu.
19. "In Vukutu, an ancient sanctuary of great beauty and complete isolation,
surrounded by sculpture-like rocks, our best artists came to live in an art
community. They huntedfor pure food according to their belief in life-force. Here
they produced their finest work awayfi-om the encroaching touristtrade. Itwas
thebestmove we ever made. "
20. would not have come about were it not for more these qualities. The two men, however,
could not have had more different backgrounds and experiences on which to base their
theories. With no artistic training and very little knowledge of the arts, Blomefield
nevertheless felt passionately about the natural creative potential within the African
people in Zimbabwe. Within an unshakeable (some would say naive) belief in the ability
to live by simple means and personal resources in times of hardship, he displayed
immense courage in implementing his ambitions.
21. Despite the serious recognition and international success of the sculpture, tensions
between Frank McEwen at the National Gallery and the establishment at that time
governing Rhodesia continued to grow, eventually forcing him to resign from his post as
Director in 1973.
22. Difficulties within the country also heightened at this time and a ten-year internal
struggle finally led to Independence for the new Zimbabwe in l980. The years of war
represented an extremely difficult period for the sculptors. Many abandoned their art and
returned to more conventional activities; many were unable to work in the rural areas as
these became increasingly dangerous. Lacking the system of support and encouragement
that existed with Frank McEwen, some artists struggled in isolation, only to re-emerge as
confident talents in the middle- to-late eighties.
23. Frank McEwen died on 1 5th January 1994. A lover and supporter of free creative
expression and an acknowledged expert on the visual arts (in particular the 'primitive'
arts), he was perhaps most respected for his role in the emergence of Zimbabwean stone
sculpture and remained an authority in this field. McEwen was possessed of a deep love
and commitment to art. It was his life. He believed that the creation of art drew out those
higher spiritual values inherent in man and uplifted both maker and viewer.
24. Frank McEwen O.B.E., Chev. des Arts et Lettres 1908- 1994