Sculptures of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe Stone Sculptures

As the basic material for the sculptures the artists preferably use serpentine. This type of rock is about 2.6 million years old and is found in great deposits throughout Zimbabwe.
Serpentine distinguishes itself by its fine structure, few cracks, and very variable degrees of hardness. Its colour hues range from black to green, from reddish through orange to violet. The colour is determined by the composition of the minerals and differs from side to side. Owing to its many subspecies it offers a wonderful variety of possible creations.

In the north of Zimbabwe serpentine with green, brown, and black hues are mined. In the quarries of Tengenenge an especially hard serpentine called springstone is found with an intensive black colouring. Opal stone is a
light–green variety of serpentine from near Chiweshe. It is favoured because of its hardness and its grain. Besides serpentine also the greenishly gleaming semi-precious verdite, the yellowish black-pointed leopard rock, or the very rare lepidolite is used.

The working of the stones is pure manual labour, as the basis structure of the later sculpture is already laid down in the unhewn stone. The transfer of the inner image to the sculpture is done without ground plan or rough draft, as a dialogue between the artist and his stone. After the rough carving of the form with a chipping hammer, the proper shaping is done with hammer and/or mallet and different chisels.
The work gets its first rough polish with different rasps and files. For a smooth polish of the sculpture sand paper with granulations from
60 to 2000 grit is used in different operations. In order to bring structure and colour fully to bear the sculptures, after grinding, are heated at a wood fire, so that the pores of the stone open up. After that wax is applied with a brush and, after cooling down, the surplus wax which has not penetrated into the sculpture is polished off with a soft cloth.

John Takawira Luizi Purumero Edward Chiwawa

Fanizani Akuda Bauden Khoreya Bernard Matemera