Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture
can be traced back to the early 1960s when the country was still called
Rhodesia. The particular rapport between the artists and the stone
is a major characteristic of this movement. The artist first selects
a piece of rock whose shape talks to him, one with which he feels
an affinity. Most artists work on more than one piece simultaneously,
moving between the raw pieces of stone and establishing a true rapport
with the emerging forms. Unlike their western counterparts, most Zimbabwean
sculptors directly work onto the stone without producing paper sketches
beforehand, although they will occasionally draw directly onto the
stone before carving it. They see their role as revealing the spirit,
the living force inherent within each stone.
The artists who emerged
from the early days of this movement were totally untrained in the
Western sense. Their subject matters were expressions of their (mainly
Shona) culture interspersed with myths and legends. This led to the
term Shona Sculptures. Artists explored the relationship between
the physical world and the spiritual world, the here and now and the
world of their ancestors. These sculptors are generally referred to
as first generation artists.
Since Independence in
1980, these traditional themes are more and more giving way to every-day
concerns of a universal nature, produced by the so-called second and
third generation artists. It has also become apparent that the term
Shona Sculpture - although originally a useful marketing tool vis-à-vis
a Western clientele - is inappropriate. Not all of the sculptors belong
to the Shona people but are from other ethnic groups. Furthermore,
their work is never used in traditional or religious rituals; it is
art for art's sake.
Artists often find that
they need to raise awareness of the value of their work amongst their
own community, village or family although their success is much admired
as a way of earning a living at a time of national economic hardship.
Paradoxically this may be the very reason for the continuing success
of Zimbabwe Sculpture. The greatest art has often been produced under
the most difficult of circumstances. It is powerfully human - the
work depicting messages in both figurative and abstract manner that
convey feelings and experiences basic to humankind, whatever their
cultural background. This together with the artists' formidable technical
know-how, understanding of the stone and great spiritual respect for
this natural resource ensures that art lovers and connoisseurs of
stone sculpture the world over continue to hold this work in the high
esteem it deserves.
