Zimbabwean Shona Stone Sculpture

    Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture, known world-wide as Shona Sculpture, has been given a place in the world of art, because of its uniqueness.  While other art forms evolve and emerge, the stone sculpture in Zimbabwe still remains the art form for which Zimbabwe is best known and indeed is identified by. Products range from collectors items to fine art.

    Called "perhaps the most important art form to emerge from Africa in this century" by Newsweek, noted collectors of Shona art include Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Sofia of Spain, Lou Rawls, Jimmy Stewart, Cecily Tyson, Harry Belafonte, the Prince of Wales, the Rockefeller Family, Danny Glover, and some of the world's leading museums.

    Shona sculpture is part of permanent collections of the Rodin Museum, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Mankind, London; National Gallery of Zimbabwe; and the Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt.

    Although the Shona have not been exposed to western culture, much of the work of Shona sculptors resembles 20th century contemporary art. The Shona people have been thriving in Southeastern Africa for more than 1,000 years, and have been sculpting for almost that long. They are mostly self-taught artists who carve their works from brilliant white granites and rich serpentines in reds, greens, maroons, greys, yellows and orange. The most common carving material is serpentine, but verdite, also known as Africa's "Green Gold" is particularly prized by some artists for its rich, deep emerald color, swirling striations and hardness rivaling that of rubies.

    After quarrying the raw stone with a pickaxe and pry bar, carvers use simple and handmade tools to "release" the spirit trapped in the stone. Shona artists do not plan or pre-draw their sculptures. Instead, the image is inspired by the stone itself or the ancestral spirits. "The sculpture is already hidden in the stone, I just let it out," says Henry Munyardzi, an internationally acclaimed sculptor. The art is primarily based on animal, mythical and spiritual themes intrinsic to Shona life and mythology.

    Of the more than 12 million Shona people today, about 1000 are sculptors. Though traditionally the sculptors have been men, in the last few years many women have began carving. Their work will be an important part of this exhibition.