A Brief History of Zimbabwe Sculpture Movement

NYANHONGO  The Most Prominent Name in Stone Sculpture

Born of an artistic environment free from the constraints of formal artistic rules & boundaries, the Zimbabwe Sculpture Movement has become known as the most compelling & evocative form of art to emerge from Africa in the 20th century.  First appearing in the late 1950s (known as Shona Sculpture), the art soon captured the attention of the west and has since been featured in many of the world’s finest museums, galleries & private collections.

However, the significance of Zimbabwean stone sculpture lies not in the international recognition it has gained, but in its honest and emotional expression of the unique sociocultural identity of the Zimbabwean community.  The Zimbabwe Sculpture Movement reads as a testimony of time & place as the artists sculpt a cultural and spiritual induced depiction of the ever-changing Zimbabwean society.