Harare — IT was a great loss to the Zimbabwean art community and its international counterparts to learn of the passing on of Colleen Madamombe in February 2009.

In an interview with this writer on May 3, 1997, at the inauguration of Springstone International Art Gallery she said: "My art is a celebration of African womanhood -- their physical, emotional and spiritual strengths, their beauty, their joy pain and their enduring love and care of the family -- the community, the country and ultimately the continent of Mother Africa." (Translated from Shona).

Renowned for her skill as a stone carver and a social commentator, she broke away from the traditional quasi-religious subject matter of the Shona art of the 80s and delved into a more direct narrative approach sculpting figurative images of women which were totally accessible in concept and realisation to all caves and cultures.

Her work was remarkable for its depth of feeling, handling of contours, textures, colours and the relief ornamentation on the garments and dresses she sculpted.

It was at the prestigious Yorkshire Sculpture Park Exhibition in England that her characteristic style literary based on her own chubby portrait that drew world attention and this remained her distinctive style until her passing.

Her carved figures of women are ample Rubenesque and highly expressive in gesture.

She had considerable technical skill crocheting the dress designs with gauges creating dress texture with chasing hammer and damming floral patterns into stone like a skilled embroiderer.

The drapery was incised with surface ornamentation, delicately carved flowers, chevron patterning and scotch comb lacy detail. The figures had highly finished and polished legs, hands and faces to contrast with the highly ornate garments.

Her work portrayed rural, domestic subsistence activities. Her ability to convey a sense of physical presence and to endow her figures with gestural buoyancy, sensuality and strength made her work come to life.

Colleen's output was enormous and unlike most of her male counterparts was meticulous in her attention to detail.

Comparisons of her work have been drawn to international artists such as Colombian sculptor Ferdinand Botero (1932), and French sculptress Nikki St De Phalle (1930), whose series of Nanas (Fat Ladies) share similar features.

Colleen sculpted women carrying out domestic and rural chores: winnowing, harvesting, sweeping, nurturing infants and carrying out the laundry.

Her sculpture was conceived and carved in the narrative continuous present tense -- which imparted an immediacy and continuity; an action unfrozen. She brought with her a directness and freshness of vision from a woman's point of view.

In an early work entitled "Birth" she laid bare intimate and private evocations of womanhood, an event hereto unexpressed as a subject in a male-dominated field.

As such her art inspired awe and admiration in her contemporaries who apart from her kindered artist colleague and confidant Agnes Nyanhongo, where all male.

Colleen was an inspiring teacher who hand picked and taught all her studio assistants who were all male.

The appeal of her work manifests across cultural and socio-economic backgrounds as was testified by the numerous invitations to partake in various overseas exhibitions.

In a career that spanned 23 years her entire output is estimated at 2 760 signed pieces spread over five continents of the world. Fine examples of her work have graced major prestigious world galleries, including the Yorkshire Sculpture Park; Africa Gallery, New York; Musees Royaux Des Beaux Artes, Brussels; Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany; Ghent, Brussels, Belgium; Colorado, California; San Diego; Delft; Utrecht, Holland; Barcelona; Basel, Zurich; New Mexico; Sydney, Australia; and Paris.

Colleen was a genius who expressed herself through the medium of the carved human body expressions of the lives of African women in Zimbabwe and a greater statement for universal issues concerning women.

Due to her prolific output and huge international success her work spawned has a plethora of imitators. It is therefore pertinent to evaluate and authenticate her later works with an approved expert. However, her rare sculptures will remain a collectable item in the history of Zimbabwean art.

The world impact of her sculpture serves as a shining example of women's achievements and needs further recognition and accolades, especially in her motherland Zimbabwe.

Very few artists will ever approach her human understanding and creative, expressive powers.