Shona Stone Elephants Zimbabwe African Art

A Shona Stone Sculpture in brown stone depicting two Elephant Heads, signed by Victor. 

All Shona sculpture was made after 1965. Frank McEwan, an Englishman, who was director of the Rhodes National Gallerey in what was then Southern Rhodesia, began a school in 1956, and in 1965 encouraged the students, who had been painting, to move to stone. See Oliver Sultan's "Life in Stone."

I have a huge collection of Shona pieces in rapocco, green and black serpentine, leopard rock, and verdite--some are four feet tall! In our extensive time in Zimbabwe, we saw an enormous amount of wonderful sculpture. We did the largest amount of our buying from a wonderful co-op of about sixty artists. My partner apprenticed with them, and learned to repair sculpture, which she has done for galleries, museums, and private collections. Instead of putting pieces in the fire, as they do in Zimbabwe, we use space heaters, hair dryers, and pots of boiling water. For more information on the Shona sculptors of Zimbabwe, see "ZIMBABWE HERITAGE, CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS."