| ABOUT
SHONA SCULPTURE Most people, when they first encounter Shona stone sculpture, assume that it is a modern art form. In fact, Shona tribesmen, sophisticated in the use of simple, traditional hand tools to carve stone, built a large stone complex, called the Great Zimbabwe, carved stone by carved stone, over a several-century period starting around 1000 AD. For reasons about which different and contradictory theories abound, the city complex was abandoned around 1600 and subsequently plundered and all but destroyed; the stone carvers fled to other parts of Southern Africa; and the craft of stone carving died out. 
In the mid-1950s, civil unrest in the country
that had become Southern Rhodesia under British rule blossomed into a
15 year civil war that led in 1980 to formal independence for the new
nation of Zimbabwe. In 1956, Frank McEwen, a former art critic and curator
of the Musee Rodin in Paris, became the first director of the new National
Gallery in Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia. Although the colonists
expected McEwen to bring European art to this colonial outpost, instead
he traveled around his new homeland and discovered a handful of Shona
tribesmen working on stone sculpture in what came to be known as a "rediscovered"
art form. Assisted by workshop schools that McEwen helped establish to
promote this indigenous art, Shona sculpture soon developed into a substantial
local art movement . Along the way, 100 Shona sculptures were featured
at an exhibit at the Rodin Museum in Paris in 1971.For the modern Shona sculptors, much like their forebearers, an essential part of the sculpting process is enabling the spirit or spirits residing in the stone to be released into a more recognizable form. Thus, the sculptors, most of whom live in rural areas of the eastern portion of the country, search through the thousands of acres of stones for one that "speaks" to them. There are many different kinds of stone that the sculptors use, from sandstone, the softest and easiest to carve, to granite and the semiprecious verdite, the hardest and most difficult to carve. The range of stone includes opal stone, bloodstone, and serpentine, the most prevalent material and one that can be found in over 200 shades of green and brown. Then, using simple, traditional hatchets and chisels, they set to work on their sculptures. The elaborate, yet time honored, process that can take many months to complete includes extensive sanding and rubbing, heating alongside an open wood fire, covering with many layers of wax, and polishing and buffing.  Although the specific subjects of the individual sculptures are as varied and numerous as the actual number of sculptures themselves, there are several important themes that keep recurring. One of these is the family, since the family, both natural and extended, plays such an important part in the Shona culture. A second theme is homage to the various spirits that play such a central role. These include animals, leaves, and birds (for example, Chapungu, the Bateleur Eagle, and the title of the 2004 exhibit at Denver’s Botanic Gardens, is one of the most highly respected guardian spirits). Some of the sculptures feature ancestors, who impart knowledge, wisdom, and culture to those currently living, or tribal chieftains and elders, always held in high esteem. Another common theme is the activity of daily life—working, dancing, thinking, resting, or being at peace. Finally, some sculptures represent the transformation of animals or birds into human form or the reverse, since such metamorphosis is an important part of the Shona cultural cosmos. However, regardless of the theme or the specific subject, the content/meaning of a sculpture almost invariably derives from the individual artist’s sense of meaning that emanates from the stone itself. Over the past half-century, increasing numbers of Shona tribes people have become sculptors, including, recently, women. The first few who began working in the 1940s and 1950s became known as the First Generation sculptors, including internationally recognized Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Henry Munyaradzi, and Boira Mteki. Their children and almost 100 of their age mates became the Second Generation Artists, including Richard Mteki and David Gopito. Since then, a Third Generation of artists, numbering several hundred, has also emerged, including Adam Gatsi and Lucky Mupinga, among a host of others. (Pieces by David Gopito and Adam Gatsi are on display and for sale currently at Gallery 821, and we hope to have some pieces by First Generation artists and other Second Generation sculptors this Fall.) Even younger artists are beginning to create a Fourth Generation, and we can only hope there will be many more generations in the future. WELCOME TO SHONA SCULPTURE. |
