Nicholas Mukomberanwa
Nicholas Mukomberanwa ( * 1940 in Buhera district near Ruwa, then: Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, † November 2002 Ruwa ) was an important representative of the first generation of modern sculptors in Zimbabwe.
Biography
Nicholas Mukomberanwa spent his childhood in a rural environment that fundamentally influenced his later work. At the mission school Serima him the imagery of both the Christian religion and the traditional African art were brought home, and he learned the art of wood carving. From the confining rigid artistic rules that were imposed on him there, he was able to free himself, after he had in 1962, Frank McEwen, the director of the National Gallery in Harare taken. Its art educational principles allowed young natural talents, without too much guidance and training to develop free from itself. In retrospect, this philosophy McEwen appears as a key element in Nicholas Mukomberanwas career. Even as he worked full time as a police officer, he began to sculpt and soon his work appeared in international exhibitions. In 1976 he made the sculpture to his profession.
Nicholas was a deeply spiritual person. A visit to his farm inevitably led to a conversation about marriage, life, religion, art, trees, children, love and politics. Only about prices he wanted to talk never and left the art business his - now also deceased - gifted sons Nicholas and Anderson, whose works - as is still the sons Lawrence and Taguma and daughters Netsai and Ennika - bear witness to the natural talent of Mukomberanwa family. Nicholas is internationally regarded as one of Zimbabwe's most important sculptors; His works are in many collections and museums worldwide.
Style
Despite his success Nicholas Mukomberanwa remained focused on the development of his art: " there which always a question mark in my head - why is it good - why is it bad? " While he was initially very much for the representation of African cult figures and scenes from the Bible had simple preference for curved lines, he developed in the sixties a more complicated geometric style he using the hard - Penhalonga Serpentinits increased in the seventies by sharp lines and areas to broad abstraction, often overwhelming, gemahnender to Henry Moore, monumental expression. Some of his most powerful sculptures emerged in the eighties, when he joined the audacious formal inventions of his previous styles with deeply incised surfaces and confidently sweeping curves to something incomparably Bathroom Private. He was a connoisseur of Shona culture and very proud of them. It was his source of strength and motivation to preserve and reproduce.
Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions: London (1969, 1972, 1981, 1983, 1988), Oxford ( 1981, 1984 ), Paris ( 1970/71, 1987), Chicago ( 1974), Boston ( 1987), Frankfurt am Main (1985 ), Vienna ( 1985), Rome ( 1987), Sydney (1985 ), Melbourne and Brisbane ( 1987), Harare (1978, 1982/83, 1989, 1993 /94), Venice Biennale (1990 ), Tokyo ( 1992) and New York (1990 / 91, 1994/95, 1997)
Solo Exhibitions: Johannesburg (1977 /78), Harare (1979 ), London (1983 /84), Los Angeles ( 1984), Auckland / New Zealand (1991 ), Sydney (1991 ), Harare (1995 - Retrospective at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe where he has been since 1981 and was a constant presence ).
Swell
- Ben Joosten: Lexicon: Sculptors from Zimbabwe. The first generation. Dodeward, The Netherlands; ISBN 90-806629-1-7 (English)
- Contemporary Master Sculptors of Zimbabwe. Friends Forever, Ruwa Zimbabwe in 2007; ISBN 978-0-7974-3527-8 (English)
- Oliver Sultan: Life in Stone. Zimbabwean Sculpture. Birth of Contemporary Art at the form, Harare 1999; ISBN 1-77909-023-4 (English)
- Prominent Sculptors of Zimbabwe: Nicholas Mukomberanwa, catalog, Harare 1989 ( English)
- Celia Winter - Irving Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe. Context, Content and form, Harare 1991 ( English)
- Anthony and Laura Ponter: Spirits in Stone: The New Face of African Art; Sebastopol / California 1992 ( English)