Zimbabwe: Is This One of the Most Artistic Countries in the World?
From ancient rock paintings and Great Zimbabwe to stone sculpture, charcoal, contemporary painting and the Venice Biennale
There is something unusual happening in Zimbabwe.
Attend a major art event in Harare and more than a hundred painters can appear on the programme. Travel around the country and another artistic world becomes visible: sculptors working stone in studios, gardens, villages and roadside workshops.
Then there are artists drawing astonishingly realistic animals in charcoal and pastel. Others paint the streets and markets of Zimbabwe. Others explore family, women, tradition, totems and identity. And increasingly, another generation is moving into abstraction and contemporary art.
For a country of around 17 million inhabitants, it raises an intriguing question:
Then there are artists drawing astonishingly realistic animals in charcoal and pastel. Others paint the streets and markets of Zimbabwe. Others explore family, women, tradition, totems and identity. And increasingly, another generation is moving into abstraction and contemporary art.
For a country of around 17 million inhabitants, it raises an intriguing question:
Does Zimbabwe possess an unusually high concentration of artistic talent?
Could it even be one of the most artistic countries in the world?
There is no international measurement of "artistic ability" that could prove such a claim. Nor would it be reasonable to suggest that Zimbabweans are inherently more talented than Nigerians, South Africans, Ghanaians, Italians, French or any other people.
But something can be investigated.
When the extraordinary quantity of ancient rock art, centuries of stone-working, the international success of Zimbabwean stone sculpture, the sheer number of practising sculptors, the growing community of painters and Zimbabwe's continuing presence at the Venice Biennale are considered together, a remarkable picture begins to emerge.
There is no international measurement of "artistic ability" that could prove such a claim. Nor would it be reasonable to suggest that Zimbabweans are inherently more talented than Nigerians, South Africans, Ghanaians, Italians, French or any other people.
But something can be investigated.
When the extraordinary quantity of ancient rock art, centuries of stone-working, the international success of Zimbabwean stone sculpture, the sheer number of practising sculptors, the growing community of painters and Zimbabwe's continuing presence at the Venice Biennale are considered together, a remarkable picture begins to emerge.
Perhaps the real question is not whether Zimbabweans are born with more artistic talent.
Perhaps Zimbabwe is unusually good at **allowing artistic ability to reveal itself.**
And the story begins thousands of years before anybody used the word Zimbabwe.
Perhaps Zimbabwe is unusually good at **allowing artistic ability to reveal itself.**
And the story begins thousands of years before anybody used the word Zimbabwe.
Before Canvas, There Was Rock
Some of the earliest surviving art in the territory of modern Zimbabwe is found not in museums but on rock.
The Matobo Hills in southwestern Zimbabwe contain one of the world's remarkable concentrations of prehistoric rock art.
Across this dramatic landscape of granite hills, caves and shelters are thousands of painted sites associated principally with ancient hunter-gatherer communities generally identified with San traditions.
The numbers are extraordinary. Research submitted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage documentation estimated approximately
The Matobo Hills in southwestern Zimbabwe contain one of the world's remarkable concentrations of prehistoric rock art.
Across this dramatic landscape of granite hills, caves and shelters are thousands of painted sites associated principally with ancient hunter-gatherer communities generally identified with San traditions.
The numbers are extraordinary. Research submitted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage documentation estimated approximately
3,500 rock-art sites and perhaps one million individual paintings within the Matobo Hills alone
''One million!``
Even allowing for the difficulty inherent in estimating prehistoric paintings scattered across a vast landscape, the scale is astonishing.
These ancient artists painted the world around them.
There are human figures, hunting scenes and animals.
The paintings were not necessarily simply illustrations of everyday life. Rock art is associated with complex spiritual, ritual and social meanings that researchers are still attempting to understand.
We should therefore resist an attractive but historically dangerous idea.
It would be wrong to draw a straight line and claim that the San artist who painted an animal thousands of years ago directly created today's Zimbabwean painting tradition.
Populations changed. Cultures developed. New peoples arrived. Kingdoms rose and disappeared. Artistic traditions changed enormously.
**For thousands of years, people living in this landscape have looked at the human figure, the animal and the natural world and felt compelled to represent them visually.**
That observation becomes particularly interesting when we look at how many Zimbabwean artists begin their careers today.
Very often, they begin with an animal.
These ancient artists painted the world around them.
There are human figures, hunting scenes and animals.
The paintings were not necessarily simply illustrations of everyday life. Rock art is associated with complex spiritual, ritual and social meanings that researchers are still attempting to understand.
We should therefore resist an attractive but historically dangerous idea.
It would be wrong to draw a straight line and claim that the San artist who painted an animal thousands of years ago directly created today's Zimbabwean painting tradition.
Populations changed. Cultures developed. New peoples arrived. Kingdoms rose and disappeared. Artistic traditions changed enormously.
**For thousands of years, people living in this landscape have looked at the human figure, the animal and the natural world and felt compelled to represent them visually.**
That observation becomes particularly interesting when we look at how many Zimbabwean artists begin their careers today.
Very often, they begin with an animal.
But something fascinating remains.
For thousands of years, people living in this landscape have looked at the human figure, the animal and the natural world and felt compelled to represent them visually.
That observation becomes particularly interesting when we look at how many Zimbabwean artists begin their careers today.
Very often, they begin with an animal.
The Animal as an Art School
Ask a young Zimbabwean artist to demonstrate what he or she can do and there is a good chance that the answer will be a lion, elephant, leopard, zebra or another animal.
Charcoal and pastel have become particularly powerful media.
They are unforgiving.
If an artist draws a lion realistically, there is nowhere to hide.
The proportions must work. The eyes must live. The structure of the head must be understood. Light and shadow must create depth. Hair must somehow emerge from marks made on paper.
The artist has to learn to see.
Perhaps this is one reason wildlife drawing has become such an effective informal art school.
Charcoal and pastel have become particularly powerful media.
They are unforgiving.
If an artist draws a lion realistically, there is nowhere to hide.
The proportions must work. The eyes must live. The structure of the head must be understood. Light and shadow must create depth. Hair must somehow emerge from marks made on paper.
The artist has to learn to see.
Perhaps this is one reason wildlife drawing has become such an effective informal art school.
It teaches observation.
It teaches patience.
It teaches anatomy.
It teaches light.
It teaches patience.
It teaches anatomy.
It teaches light.
And it gives young artists an immediate way of discovering whether they possess an unusual ability.
Yet wildlife is increasingly only the beginning.
Once artists realise what they can do technically, another question arises:
Yet wildlife is increasingly only the beginning.
Once artists realise what they can do technically, another question arises:
What do I want to say?
That question is helping create a new chapter in Zimbabwean art.
But before reaching contemporary painting, we have to return to stone.
But before reaching contemporary painting, we have to return to stone.
A Country Built and Carved in Stone
Stone occupies a special place in Zimbabwe's cultural history.
Great Zimbabwe, the monumental stone city from which the modern country takes its name, flourished principally from around the eleventh century onwards.
Its extraordinary dry-stone architecture demonstrates sophisticated knowledge of construction, proportion, space and material.
But Great Zimbabwe also produced sculpture.
Among its most celebrated surviving artworks are eight birds carved from soapstone.
Great Zimbabwe, the monumental stone city from which the modern country takes its name, flourished principally from around the eleventh century onwards.
Its extraordinary dry-stone architecture demonstrates sophisticated knowledge of construction, proportion, space and material.
But Great Zimbabwe also produced sculpture.
Among its most celebrated surviving artworks are eight birds carved from soapstone.
These extraordinary sculptures combine human and avian characteristics and probably carried political, religious or ancestral significance.
Their precise meaning remains debated.
Their importance does not.
One of these forms became the Zimbabwe Bird, the national emblem appearing on the country's flag.
That alone tells us something profound.
When modern Zimbabwe needed a visual symbol of national identity, it could look backwards hundreds of years to an artwork produced by its ancestors.
Their importance does not.
One of these forms became the Zimbabwe Bird, the national emblem appearing on the country's flag.
That alone tells us something profound.
When modern Zimbabwe needed a visual symbol of national identity, it could look backwards hundreds of years to an artwork produced by its ancestors.
And the carving tradition is older still.
Archaeological evidence indicates that both utilitarian and non-utilitarian soapstone objects were being produced before the eleventh century.
So we should not claim that modern Shona sculpture is simply an uninterrupted continuation of the artists who carved at Great Zimbabwe.
Modern Zimbabwean stone sculpture has its own twentieth-century history.
But neither should we pretend that carving stone suddenly arrived in Zimbabwe in modern times.
Archaeological evidence indicates that both utilitarian and non-utilitarian soapstone objects were being produced before the eleventh century.
So we should not claim that modern Shona sculpture is simply an uninterrupted continuation of the artists who carved at Great Zimbabwe.
Modern Zimbabwean stone sculpture has its own twentieth-century history.
But neither should we pretend that carving stone suddenly arrived in Zimbabwe in modern times.
The relationship between the people of this region and stone is ancient.
The Modern Sculpture Explosion
In the twentieth century something extraordinary happened.
Zimbabwean stone sculpture became internationally recognised.
The opening of the National Gallery in Salisbury, now Harare, in 1957 became an important part of this development. The Gallery subsequently played a major role in nurturing and promoting Zimbabwean visual art.
Artists were encouraged to explore their own ideas, experiences and cultural worlds rather than merely reproduce European artistic conventions.
Zimbabwean stone sculpture became internationally recognised.
The opening of the National Gallery in Salisbury, now Harare, in 1957 became an important part of this development. The Gallery subsequently played a major role in nurturing and promoting Zimbabwean visual art.
Artists were encouraged to explore their own ideas, experiences and cultural worlds rather than merely reproduce European artistic conventions.
Tengenenge: Where Artists Created a Movement
At places such as Tengenenge, communities of sculptors also developed.
Stone was available.
Artists worked beside artists.
Skills passed from hand to hand.
And a movement grew.
Zimbabwean sculpture travelled beyond Zimbabwe.
Collectors began noticing it.
International galleries exhibited it.
Museums acquired it.
Stone was available.
Artists worked beside artists.
Skills passed from hand to hand.
And a movement grew.
Zimbabwean sculpture travelled beyond Zimbabwe.
Collectors began noticing it.
International galleries exhibited it.
Museums acquired it.
And artists who had sometimes begun with little formal artistic education developed international reputations.
The Artist Teaching the Next Artist
This may be one of the most important explanations for Zimbabwe's extraordinary number of artists.
Art does not necessarily begin at art school.
A young man sees somebody carving.
He helps him.
Perhaps he begins by carrying stone.
Then he sands.
Then he polishes.
Then he learns how the stone behaves.
Eventually he attempts his own sculpture.
A father teaches a son.
An uncle teaches a nephew.
A brother teaches a brother.
An established sculptor employs an assistant who eventually becomes an independent artist. The Mukomberanwa family is one famous example of artistic ability extending through a family, but the principle can be observed much more widely.
Art does not necessarily begin at art school.
A young man sees somebody carving.
He helps him.
Perhaps he begins by carrying stone.
Then he sands.
Then he polishes.
Then he learns how the stone behaves.
Eventually he attempts his own sculpture.
A father teaches a son.
An uncle teaches a nephew.
A brother teaches a brother.
An established sculptor employs an assistant who eventually becomes an independent artist. The Mukomberanwa family is one famous example of artistic ability extending through a family, but the principle can be observed much more widely.
This creates something very different from an artistic system dependent entirely upon academies and universities.
It creates an artistic ecosystem.
And once an ecosystem exists, talent has an opportunity to reveal itself.
A child does not have to imagine what an artist is.
It creates an artistic ecosystem.
And once an ecosystem exists, talent has an opportunity to reveal itself.
A child does not have to imagine what an artist is.
There may already be one nearby.
The Other Side of an Artistic Community
The closeness of Zimbabwe's sculpting community helped generations of artists to develop. Artists watched one another work, exchanged techniques and learned from relatives, friends and established sculptors.
But such closeness could also create tensions.
For Sampson Kuvenguhwa, one concern was originality. He was deeply protective of his ideas and worried that distinctive forms he developed could be observed and copied by other artists. As his own artistic language became increasingly individual, he became reluctant to expose new work and ideas to the wider sculpting community.
But copying was not his only concern. Kuvenguhwa could also be extraordinarily critical of the work being produced around him. He considered much of the sculpture entering the market to be below the artistic standard he expected. Reputation did not necessarily impress him. He was prepared to dismiss even work by some of Zimbabwe's most successful and sought-after sculptors if he believed that the quality or artistic substance was poor. This uncompromising attitude inevitably separated him from the mainstream.
From the end of the 1990s onwards, Kuvenguhwa increasingly withdrew into his home and working environment in Harare. Rather than becoming part of a large workshop or following styles that were proving successful commercially, he chose an unusually private path. For more than two decades, extending into the mid-2020s, much of his sculptural development took place away from public view. There is an irony in this.
Zimbabwe's artistic ecosystem had demonstrated how effectively knowledge could pass from one artist to another. Kuvenguhwa himself had experienced this exchange during his early years, first working in wood alongside other artists, learning from them while they also learned from him.
Yet as his artistic identity strengthened, he increasingly resisted that same process. He wanted his work to remain his work.
This independence helped him move away from conventional forms and develop the increasingly distinctive language associated with his Mapiti works, and eventually the organic, tree-like structures of his later Dry Tree style. It also helps to explain why Kuvenguhwa's work has historically been relatively difficult to encounter on the market. He did not pursue visibility in the same way as many artists working through established sculpture communities, workshops and commercial networks. His isolation protected his ideas, but it also limited the circulation and recognition of his work.
But such closeness could also create tensions.
For Sampson Kuvenguhwa, one concern was originality. He was deeply protective of his ideas and worried that distinctive forms he developed could be observed and copied by other artists. As his own artistic language became increasingly individual, he became reluctant to expose new work and ideas to the wider sculpting community.
But copying was not his only concern. Kuvenguhwa could also be extraordinarily critical of the work being produced around him. He considered much of the sculpture entering the market to be below the artistic standard he expected. Reputation did not necessarily impress him. He was prepared to dismiss even work by some of Zimbabwe's most successful and sought-after sculptors if he believed that the quality or artistic substance was poor. This uncompromising attitude inevitably separated him from the mainstream.
From the end of the 1990s onwards, Kuvenguhwa increasingly withdrew into his home and working environment in Harare. Rather than becoming part of a large workshop or following styles that were proving successful commercially, he chose an unusually private path. For more than two decades, extending into the mid-2020s, much of his sculptural development took place away from public view. There is an irony in this.
Zimbabwe's artistic ecosystem had demonstrated how effectively knowledge could pass from one artist to another. Kuvenguhwa himself had experienced this exchange during his early years, first working in wood alongside other artists, learning from them while they also learned from him.
Yet as his artistic identity strengthened, he increasingly resisted that same process. He wanted his work to remain his work.
This independence helped him move away from conventional forms and develop the increasingly distinctive language associated with his Mapiti works, and eventually the organic, tree-like structures of his later Dry Tree style. It also helps to explain why Kuvenguhwa's work has historically been relatively difficult to encounter on the market. He did not pursue visibility in the same way as many artists working through established sculpture communities, workshops and commercial networks. His isolation protected his ideas, but it also limited the circulation and recognition of his work.
His story therefore reveals another side of Zimbabwe's remarkable artistic ecosystem.
Working together can uncover talent. Teaching can create another generation of artists. Competition can push artists forward.
But an environment in which ideas move rapidly from artist to artist can also make originality something an artist feels compelled to defend.
Sampson Kuvenguhwa ultimately chose independence over conformity — even when that independence meant remaining largely outside the mainstream.
Working together can uncover talent. Teaching can create another generation of artists. Competition can push artists forward.
But an environment in which ideas move rapidly from artist to artist can also make originality something an artist feels compelled to defend.
Sampson Kuvenguhwa ultimately chose independence over conformity — even when that independence meant remaining largely outside the mainstream.
Then Came the Painters
Internationally, Zimbabwe became particularly associated with stone sculpture.
But something else has been developing.
Painting.
And increasingly, the range is remarkable.
Some artists begin with wildlife.
Some begin with portraiture.
Some develop extraordinary abilities with charcoal and pastel.
But increasingly they move beyond pure technical demonstration.
They begin telling stories.
They begin documenting Zimbabwe.
They begin examining their own lives.
But something else has been developing.
Painting.
And increasingly, the range is remarkable.
Some artists begin with wildlife.
Some begin with portraiture.
Some develop extraordinary abilities with charcoal and pastel.
But increasingly they move beyond pure technical demonstration.
They begin telling stories.
They begin documenting Zimbabwe.
They begin examining their own lives.
Barry Lungu and the Art of Everyday Zimbabwe
Barry Lungu provides a very different view of Zimbabwe from the wildlife artist.
His world is populated.
There are streets, markets, township scenes, transport, buildings and people going about their lives.
This kind of painting performs an important function.
It records the ordinary.
And ordinary life eventually becomes history.
A street scene painted today may tell somebody fifty years from now how people dressed, travelled, traded, worked and interacted.
What seems completely normal to us now will not always exist.
Artists such as Lungu turn everyday Zimbabwe into visual memory.
They remind us that African art does not have to depict an elephant to be African.
A bus stop can be African art.
A market can be African art.
His world is populated.
There are streets, markets, township scenes, transport, buildings and people going about their lives.
This kind of painting performs an important function.
It records the ordinary.
And ordinary life eventually becomes history.
A street scene painted today may tell somebody fifty years from now how people dressed, travelled, traded, worked and interacted.
What seems completely normal to us now will not always exist.
Artists such as Lungu turn everyday Zimbabwe into visual memory.
They remind us that African art does not have to depict an elephant to be African.
A bus stop can be African art.
A market can be African art.
A woman going about her day can be African art.
A Harare street can be African art.
Because Africa is not simply its wildlife.
A Harare street can be African art.
Because Africa is not simply its wildlife.
It is its people!
Keith Zenda: Culture, Identity and Experiment
Keith Zenda represents another direction.
His work encompasses portraiture and figurative painting but increasingly explores broader questions of Zimbabwean culture and identity.
Women appear repeatedly.
So do aspects of everyday life and heritage.
His exploration of totems is particularly interesting.
Within Shona culture, a totem is far more than an animal image.
It connects with ancestry, family, identity and belonging.
When these concepts enter contemporary painting, an ancient cultural language is being reinterpreted through a modern artistic one.
Zenda has also explored abstraction.
And this transition matters.
An artist moving from realism into abstraction is not necessarily moving away from Zimbabwe.
He may be finding another way of expressing it.
Colour can carry memory.
Shape can suggest identity.
Texture can communicate emotion.
His work encompasses portraiture and figurative painting but increasingly explores broader questions of Zimbabwean culture and identity.
Women appear repeatedly.
So do aspects of everyday life and heritage.
His exploration of totems is particularly interesting.
Within Shona culture, a totem is far more than an animal image.
It connects with ancestry, family, identity and belonging.
When these concepts enter contemporary painting, an ancient cultural language is being reinterpreted through a modern artistic one.
Zenda has also explored abstraction.
And this transition matters.
An artist moving from realism into abstraction is not necessarily moving away from Zimbabwe.
He may be finding another way of expressing it.
Colour can carry memory.
Shape can suggest identity.
Texture can communicate emotion.
A painting does not always need to reproduce the visible world in order to speak about it.
When Skill Becomes Voice
This may be the most exciting stage in the development of Zimbabwean painting.
Zimbabwe possesses considerable technical ability.
But technical skill alone does not make an important artist.
A painter may produce an astonishingly realistic elephant.
The next stage is harder.
Can that artist produce work that somebody recognises from across a room without reading the signature?
Zimbabwe possesses considerable technical ability.
But technical skill alone does not make an important artist.
A painter may produce an astonishingly realistic elephant.
The next stage is harder.
Can that artist produce work that somebody recognises from across a room without reading the signature?
That is artistic voice.
And increasingly Zimbabwean artists are searching for it.
Some remain realist.
Some become storytellers.
Some document society.
Some investigate heritage.
Some explore women and identity.
Some work with discarded materials.
Some become abstract artists.
Others combine several approaches.
There is no longer a single meaningful definition of "Zimbabwean art."
Some become storytellers.
Some document society.
Some investigate heritage.
Some explore women and identity.
Some work with discarded materials.
Some become abstract artists.
Others combine several approaches.
There is no longer a single meaningful definition of "Zimbabwean art."
That is a strength rather than a weakness.
So, Does Zimbabwe Have More Artistic Talent?
We return to our original question.
Can we say that Zimbabwe has more artistic ability than other African countries?
No.
There is no objective way to prove that.
Africa contains extraordinary artistic cultures: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Africa and many others have produced artists of enormous importance.
Nor can we scientifically declare Zimbabwe "the most artistic country in the world."
But we can ask the question.
Because Zimbabwe presents an unusual accumulation of evidence.
It possesses one of the world's remarkable concentrations of ancient rock art.
It possesses a centuries-old history of sophisticated stone-working.
It produced the extraordinary artistic objects of Great Zimbabwe.
It developed one of the world's most recognisable modern African stone-sculpture movements.
It has produced generations of sculptors whose knowledge is often transmitted directly from artist to artist.
It has a large and increasingly visible community of painters.
And it maintains a presence at one of contemporary art's most important international events.
Can we say that Zimbabwe has more artistic ability than other African countries?
No.
There is no objective way to prove that.
Africa contains extraordinary artistic cultures: Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Africa and many others have produced artists of enormous importance.
Nor can we scientifically declare Zimbabwe "the most artistic country in the world."
But we can ask the question.
Because Zimbabwe presents an unusual accumulation of evidence.
It possesses one of the world's remarkable concentrations of ancient rock art.
It possesses a centuries-old history of sophisticated stone-working.
It produced the extraordinary artistic objects of Great Zimbabwe.
It developed one of the world's most recognisable modern African stone-sculpture movements.
It has produced generations of sculptors whose knowledge is often transmitted directly from artist to artist.
It has a large and increasingly visible community of painters.
And it maintains a presence at one of contemporary art's most important international events.
For a country of approximately 17 million people, that combination is remarkable.
Perhaps Talent Is the Wrong Word
There is another possibility.
Perhaps Zimbabweans are not biologically or inherently "more artistic" than other peoples.
Perhaps Zimbabwe has developed conditions in which artistic ability is unusually likely to be discovered.
Imagine two equally talented children born in different environments.
One never meets an artist.
Nobody around him draws.
Nobody carves.
Nobody tells him that producing art could become a livelihood.
His ability may never be discovered.
The other child sees somebody drawing an elephant.
He tries.
Someone notices.
An artist shows him how to use charcoal.
He improves.
He sees another artist selling paintings.
Perhaps Zimbabweans are not biologically or inherently "more artistic" than other peoples.
Perhaps Zimbabwe has developed conditions in which artistic ability is unusually likely to be discovered.
Imagine two equally talented children born in different environments.
One never meets an artist.
Nobody around him draws.
Nobody carves.
Nobody tells him that producing art could become a livelihood.
His ability may never be discovered.
The other child sees somebody drawing an elephant.
He tries.
Someone notices.
An artist shows him how to use charcoal.
He improves.
He sees another artist selling paintings.
Suddenly becoming an artist is not an abstract idea.It is possible.
That difference matters.
Zimbabwe has generations of people who have seen other Zimbabweans create art.
Perhaps that is part of the secret.
Art creates artists.
A New Opportunity
Technology is now adding another ingredient.
Previously an artist in Zimbabwe needed access to galleries, international dealers, tourists or visiting collectors to reach the outside world.
Today a painting can leave Zimbabwe without physically moving.
An image can be seen instantly in Zurich, London, Paris, Miami or New York.
Social media can introduce an unknown painter to a collector.
Online galleries can exhibit Zimbabwean work internationally.
Digital viewing rooms can allow somebody thousands of kilometres away to discover an artist.
This fundamentally changes what is possible.
But it also creates responsibility.
Zimbabwean artists should not simply manufacture what they believe foreign collectors expect "African art" to look like.
The opportunity is much greater.
Previously an artist in Zimbabwe needed access to galleries, international dealers, tourists or visiting collectors to reach the outside world.
Today a painting can leave Zimbabwe without physically moving.
An image can be seen instantly in Zurich, London, Paris, Miami or New York.
Social media can introduce an unknown painter to a collector.
Online galleries can exhibit Zimbabwean work internationally.
Digital viewing rooms can allow somebody thousands of kilometres away to discover an artist.
This fundamentally changes what is possible.
But it also creates responsibility.
Zimbabwean artists should not simply manufacture what they believe foreign collectors expect "African art" to look like.
The opportunity is much greater.
They can tell their own stories.