Fanizani Akuda

Fanizani Akuda ( born November 11, 1932 in Mteya in Chipata, Zambia, † February 5, 2011 in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe ) was a Zimbabwean sculptor.

Biography

Fanizani Akuda, the people of the Chewa arise, left his native Zambia in 1949 and worked in Zimbabwe as cotton pickers, basket weavers and brick engraver. Then he heard of the artists' colony Tengenenge where their founder and director Tom Blomefield first appointed him as seasonal workers in the quarry. "When I had almost reached my goal of 30 tons of serpentine, Tom gave me a box of brand- new tool for sculpting. As I began to carve because Tom really wanted this so. He encouraged us to work the way it came from the heart. We all had different ways of expressing ourselves in stone. I worked with great artists such as Henry Munyaradzi and Bernard Matemera, but we never copied each other. Since then, I am a full -time professional artist. It was a good time. I sent my children to school and pulled them on with the money I earned with the sculptures. "

Fanizani of 1967-79 was a member of the artists' village Tengenenge, since he lives with his family in a township house in Chitungwiza in Harare. He is an example that the so-called " Shona Art" is not only created by members of this largest Zimbabwean ethnic group. Fanizani Akuda is a member of the artist association "Friends Forever".

Style

Fanizani Akuda belonged to the first generation of modern sculptors of Zimbabwe. He is famous for his smirking faces, whistling men and happy families, his self-sufficient animals, all in simple lines and basic shapes. His works are gentle and humorous, smiling constantly, with mysterious slit eyes - " because I was afraid to get chiselling stone splinter in the eye. " ( Celia Winter - Irving: " Tengenenge kind; Sculpture and paintings" ). Always and everywhere around, sometimes wide, laughing, sometimes tipped smart mouth, Fanizanis radiate sculptures from a great optimism and a resting in itself, almost childlike joy that attracts every viewer into their spell. You are an epitome of African joie de vivre without ever seeming folkloristic.

Exhibitions

Fanizani Akuda introduced in Austria, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, the USA, Cuba, Australia, Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Spain and Germany.

Single examples:

Works in permanent collections:

  • Ethnological Museum, Frankfurt am Main
  • Art Center Berlin
  • Sculpture in the park of Bad Mergentheim
  • National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare
  • Chapungu Sculpture Park, Harare

In May 2005, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe organized a retrospective: " Fanizani - a legend of stone".

Swell

  • Ben Joosten: Lexicon: Sculptors from Zimbabwe. The first generation. Dodewar, the Netherlands, ISBN 90-806629-1-7
  • Contemporary Master Sculptors of Zimbabwe. Ruwa, Zimbabwe 2007, ISBN 978-0-7974-3527-8
  • Celia Winter - Irving: Tengenege - Art, Sculpture and Paintings. World Art Foundation, Eerbeek, The Netherlands 2001, ISBN 90-806237-2-5
Chewa people
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