Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
29 June 2009
book review
Harare — There is a good number of sculptors who let their sculptures speak for themselves and one such artist is Lazarus Takawira.
In a book titled Spirit of a Woman: A Journey through the Sculpture of Lazarus Takawira, by Celia Winter-Irving, it is easy to see why Takawira likes to talk through stones.
"My sculptures speak for themselves. The stone is the voice, I remain silent," he was quoted as saying.
It really takes quite a challenge to review the reviewer, as Celia is an art critic in her own right. I almost ran into the risk of reviewing the sculptures instead of the book.
However, there is no harm in making reference to Takawira's sculptures because they do not need a trained ear or eye to critique them.
The book is an insightful glimpse of who Takawira is and his subjects.
His creations are reflective of his beliefs, life and values, which are an important part of Zimbabwean sculpture-scape. Takawira's sculptures have always been as fascinating as his stories.
The book opens with an introduction where we get an insight into his sculptures and his background but there is really nothing new especially to those who know Takawira as a father, church leader and sculptor all wrapped in one.
Almost every story about Takawira is well complemented by a picture courtesy of Eric Gauss, a renowned French photographer. The imposing African Queen is as huge as his stature and it shows the beauty of African women through stone. Through the piece, we see the African queen as well mannered and cultured something that Takawira espouses throughout his pieces.
Although the author Celia has written extensively on Takawira's sculptures, she writes as if she has never written anything on Takawira before. Often authors become boring or redundant when they write the same subjects over and over again.
In the book Celia pretends she is new to the sculptures and this is because everytime a sculptor sculpts' new style and ideas emerge.
Apparently, Takawira's sculptures cannot be pigeonholed into a particular category or genre, for instance the traditional art.
In fact, as Celia argues on page 10 that " . . . at a time I am frantically trying to 'position' and 'situate' sculptors working in stone in Zimbabwe within their tradition. I wondered 'where does he fit?' Then I realised that it did not matter where he fitted or if he did not fit at all. He is a great sculptor in his own right, as were Michelangelo, Donatello and, to me above all, Bernini."
In fact, it would be unfair for one to confine an appreciation of the Takawira to his own tradition -- even comparing his work with the great sculptors from Zimbabwe in the likes of the late greats Nicholas Mukomberanwa and Bernard Matemera.
One can only speculate about the meaning of Takawira's sculptures and the motive at that particular time.
From sculptures like Ambuya, Muroora to Woman of Africa one is able to appreciate Takawira's respect and love for women. His view of women is one of respect, one of veneration.
We are told he does not see women as a vessel or weak but as a thing of strength -- working traditionally as counter with man in the fields today, working as a counterpart of man in her profession.
There is also the spiritual side to Takawira's sculptures that comes naturally. As a God fearing person, Takawira preaches about his faith without dogma or rhetoric.
Pieces such as Samuel the Prophet draws much from his Christianity background.
"...One side of me is my belief in Christ, in the Christian God, the other side of me is my African culture, an inheritance I must value as all people must value what they inherit. I treasure my culture as I treasure the things my mother taught me, her legacy to me. I cannot throw these things away," Takawira was quoted as saying.
The publisher Marie Imbrova carefully selected the pictures of the sculptures from several exhibitions including the Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition (National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe 1971-1990), Group exhibition held in Rome in 1988, Women in Stone in 1999 and Sculptors of Zimbabwe held in Kenya in 2008.
There are also pictures from his permanent collections including African Art Collection Paris, France, World Bank, New York the United States and Government of New Zealand.
The official launch of the book is slated for September 26, 2009 during the Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo courtesy of amaBooks. The book was made possible with support from Alliance Francaise Bulawayo.
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