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Shona-art, named after the Shona-tribe, started to develop in the 1950’s in Zimbabwe, under encouragement of Frank McEwen (1st director of the National Galery of Harare) and Tom Blomefield (a tobacco planter who, when he was forced to find alternative work for his employees because of international sanctions against former Rhodesia, started a sculptor commune “Tengenenge”).
Shona-art is not what we would call a typical african art. The sculptures are not primitive; the motivation underlying the work has strong roots in their culture and beliefs.
The sculpors follow their intuïtion.; they don’t sketch beforehand what they will sculpt. By looking at the stone, they get an idea about how the statue should look like.
They use a hammer to start carving with. After that they handle different types of rasps and filses. Finally they use sandpaper to smoothen the statue. After heating the statue in an open fire, they apply a wax on it.
More information about the different types of stone
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