Shona Stone Sculpture

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Zimbabwe:

Stone Sculpture

One of Zimbabwe's great accomplishments is the development and refinement of a branch of artistry usually referred to as "Shona" stone sculpture. (A misnomer since the Shona people are only one of several ethnic groups represented by Zimbabwean sculptores.) It should be noted that although the tradition of Shona stone sculpture arose in Zimbabwe, many of the great African stone sculptores nowadays come from countries in southern Africa other than Zimbabwe.

I took most of these pictures at an outdoor exhibit just outside of Harare at Chapungu Kraal Sculpture Park, which maintains the most comprehensive collection in the world. Unfortunately, I no longer remember the titles of the pieces or their creators' names. As on all my Africa pages, I limit discussion to knowledge gained (and retained) from my travels. Anything more is beyond my scope.

One of the most striking things about Shona stone sculpture is its variety. Thousands of artists of varying levels of skill incorporate artistic themes from a multitude of different cultural backgrounds.

The figure to the left is the profile of a woman bent over, washing her hair. Notice how the artist polished her body but not her hair.

The smooth polished look of the sculptures is achieved by wetting the surface and sanding it. On some of the larger pieces, this process alone can take weeks. Not all sculptures are polished and many take advantage of the contrast produced by polishing only certain sections of a piece.

This method of creating contrast by polishing only certain portions of a piece is evident here where only the faces in this representaion of a choir have been polished.

Here is a more sophisticated example of applying different different textures. I was told that this piece was made by one of the few women sculptores in Zimbabwe.

Another less common innovation is the incorporation of metal rods, as in this representation of a spider.

Zimbabwe has a rich variety of stones that can be sculpted. Historically, the preferred stone for sculptores has been black serpentine, but nearly everything has been used at one time or another. This piece was not colored by the artist; the purple hue is the actual color of the rock used.

The more exotic stones are often cut into an egg shape, polished, and sold to tourists. Many street vendors can identify by name dozens of different kinds of stone on sight.

One of the fundamental distinguishing characteristics of Shona stone sculpture is the fact that the artist first selects a promising stone and draws inspiration from it in deciding what to carve. This is the reverse of the western practice of first coming up with an idea and then searching for a suitable stone.

Of course, artists who mass produce sculpture to sell to tourists don't generally follow this tradition of drawing inspiration from the stone. I don't think this hippo maker is very inspired.