INSTITUT DE HAUTES ETUDES INTERNATIONALES ET DU DEVELOPPEMENT

STONE SCULPTING IN ZIMBABWE:

ARTISTS AS ACTORS IN AN ART WORLD

MEMOIRE

Prsent en vue de lobtention du diplme de

Master en tudes du dveloppement (MDev)

par
Nora Burla
(Suisse)

Genve
2012

1
Abstract
According to Howard Becker, art can be considered as an activity, combining various actors
together and integrating them into an art world. Like all artists, the sculptors in Zimbabwe are part of
such an art world, where a variety of activities of different actors is needed for their sculptures to be
appreciated by the consumers. After having experienced success in the early years, where social
ascension through art was possible, the artists are increasingly challenged based on the situation
within the country and the increased competition, reducing art to a survival strategy. Being
exclusively dependent on the export market, they are in need to conform to the market, neglecting
the originality of art. This thesis analyses the development of this stone sculpture movement as an
art world with its corresponding actors and shows how the artists develop strategies to compensate
the local difficulties and the constraints on the international market.

2
Index of contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................. 5
Introduction............................................................................................................................................. 6
Problem definition and research question.............................................................................................. 7
Theoretical framework: the concept of art world................................................................................... 8
Methodology ......................................................................................................................................... 10
1. Historical context of stone sculpting in Zimbabwe ....................................................................... 12
1.1 From colonial time to independence (1923-1980): the origin of the art movement ................. 12
1.2 First years of independence (1980 2000): the Golden Years of stone sculpting...................... 16
1.3 Political and economic crisis (2000 Today): the decay ............................................................. 18
2. The stone sculpture movement in Zimbabwe as an art world...................................................... 22
2.1 The description of the field - Tengenenge and Chapungu at present......................................... 22
2.2 The actors in the art world of Zimbabwean stone sculpture ...................................................... 25
2.2.1 Artist ..................................................................................................................................... 25
2.2.2 Salesmen .............................................................................................................................. 30
2.2.3 Customers............................................................................................................................. 33
3. The artists within the art market................................................................................................... 39
3.1 Forms of market interactions in the art world ............................................................................ 39
3.1.1 Selling: pricing and the artists selling strategies ................................................................. 39
3.1.2 Promotion: providing a rationale ......................................................................................... 47
3.1.3 Support: maintaining the art world...................................................................................... 49
3.2 The artists strategies as a response ........................................................................................... 51
3.2.1 Creating and producing strategies as an artist ..................................................................... 51
3.2.2 General livelihood strategy .................................................................................................. 61
3.3 The artists strategies as a particularity of this art world ............................................................. 63
3.3.1 Conventions in art ................................................................................................................ 64
3.3.2 Conventions of art in the Zimbabwean reality ..................................................................... 65
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................. 68
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................... 71
Annex ..................................................................................................................................................... 74
1. Table 1: Overview on the history from 1923-2010 ................................................................... 74
2. Map of Zimbabwe ..................................................................................................................... 75
3. List of interviewees.................................................................................................................... 76
4. Questionnaire for art dealers .................................................................................................... 77

3
Content of images
Image 1: Tengenenge gallery & working place ..................................................................................... 22
Image 2: The village Tengenenge .......................................................................................................... 23
Image 3: The Chapungu Sculpture Park ................................................................................................ 24
Image 4: Feeding the birds (Mandla) .................................................................................................... 57
Image 5: Feeding the young (Mandla) .................................................................................................. 57
Image 6: Disagreeing to agree (Mandla) ............................................................................................... 57
Image 7: Hidden Beauty (Richard)......................................................................................................... 58
Image 8: Torso 1 (Richard) .................................................................................................................... 58
Image 9: Torso 2 (Richard) .................................................................................................................... 58
Image 10: Owls (Rukodzi) ...................................................................................................................... 59
Image 11: Three owls (Rukodzi) ............................................................................................................ 59
Image 12: Fish (Rukodzi)........................................................................................................................ 59
Image 13: Map of Zimbabwe (http://www.ezilon.com/maps/africa/zimbabwe-road-maps.html) ..... 75

4
Executive Summary
Following the sociologist Beckers concept, an art world consists of a network of people and
their collective activities, contributing to the creation, distribution and appreciation of art. In this
thesis, based on a three month field research, the case of the Zimbabwean stone sculptors is
analysed through the lens of this concept with a socio-anthropological approach.
Stone sculpting in Zimbabwe is not based on tradition but its origin goes back to the 1960s
and the support of mainly white promoters. In the 80s and 90s the sculptors faced a huge success
with exhibitions in museums abroad and increased commercialisation with an in-flow of customers.
As a result, stone sculpting became a mean of social ascension where wealth could be accumulated
and attracted therefore potential artists as much as art dealers, entering business with the
sculptures. From 2000 onwards, the success became impaired by the economic and political crisis in
Zimbabwe which drove away clients and destroyed a variety of income opportunities within the
country. As a result, competition grew with people entering art to try to earn a living.
Within this art world, the artists sell their sculptures to a predominantly foreign clientele
through salesmen. Those salesmen are in charge of the direct interaction with the customer and
profit from the artists work, since their salaries are paid through the revenue of the sculptures. The
customers are increasingly represented by art dealers who take art as a business and benefit of the
existing power imbalance in the market, using their bargain advantage to achieve high profit. The
Zimbabwean sculptors can only survive as artists through interactions with foreigners in the form of
customers, supporters and promoters. Since support is limited, selling is central and needed for the
maintenance of this art world. The selling of artworks is integrated in a social relation and therefore
the prices emerging from the negotiation depend on those involved, with price setting as much as
the meaning of prices varying between the actors. To compensate the generally low prices and the
absence of customers, the artists proof agency through the elaboration of strategies to respond best
to the market demand, to improve their access to clients as much as by adopting strategies to
combine the artistic production with other activities. To respond to the market, the artists either
choose a long-term strategy with the production of genuine art or a short-term strategy with the
creation of mass-produced pieces and copies. This second strategy became predominant in the past
ten years and contradicts the common conventions of art, where artworks are supposed to be
unique and copying a taboo. Within the context of Zimbabwe and the difficulties faced by the artists
in the national economy and on the international art market, these conventions are a luxury. Art
needs to enable income and has therefore to respond to the market so that the logic of the market
shapes the creations. Sculpting is less aimed at the production of genuine art as would be requested
from an elitist perspective but considered as part of a creative industry contributing to development,
where the artist and other people involved in this art world earn a living.
5
Introduction
In its short history since the beginning in the 1960s the stone sculpting movement in
Zimbabwe has known ups and downs. Having initially been pushed by white promoters, such as the
director of the National Gallery Frank McEwen and the former tobacco farmer Tom Blomefield, this
art is a contemporary form of artistic expression and not based on a tradition, even though some
cultural themes might be expressed in stone. In the 1980s Zimbabwean stone sculpture was
celebrated in art reviews as an important contribution to contemporary art and some of the artists
lionised as being among the world bests. As a result, the sculptures became internationally
requested, resulting in an in-flow of Zimbabweans from all ways of life, trying to earn a living with
art. Having experienced enormous success in the 1980s and 90s, the art market in Zimbabwe is
impaired by the economic and political crisis the country faces since 2000. At first, this crisis led to an
increase of active sculptors in search for an income opportunity where other opportunities were silt
up. However, this trend did not last long with many artists being forced to drop out of business due
to the decreased demand, with customers avoiding Zimbabwe based on the unstable situation.

I became familiar with Zimbabwean art through a family friend working in Zimbabwe who
told my parents, both stone sculptors, about this art. Together we decided to organise an exhibition
in Switzerland to offer a selling possibility to a group of artists who are struggling because of lacking
customers. As a result, in 2010 we organised an exhibition at our own workplace as well as in four
other stone sculptors workplaces in the whole of Switzerland. The exhibitions were a great success
with roughly 80% of the sculptures being sold. This success had a big impact on the artists who could
make major investments. Having witnessed this encroachment I became fascinated by the question
of art in a developing country and decided to profit of the existing links for my Master thesis. I was
often questioned, why I decided to focus on art, whereby in a country like Zimbabwe more pressing
issues are present. However, the situation of the artists in Zimbabwe can be seen as a case study of a
group of people who try to find a balance between unfolding their skills and talent while earning an
income from it. By doing so, they are confronted with barriers given by the political environment as
much as the functioning of the international market and therefore need to develop certain survival
strategies. Thus this research is less focusing on the art as such but gives an example of a specific
group of people negotiating the difficulties of local and global aspects.

In general, there is a lack of attention towards contemporary African art which is

marginalised in art history but even more in other sciences. Stone sculpting in Zimbabwe is a poorly
explored field with most existing publications written by art historians such as Celia Winter-Irving,
Marion Arnold, Olivier Sultan etc. A few anthropological studies have been made, but mainly
focusing on the artistic production and the question of the ethnic labelling of the art form as Shona
6
art (see. Olga Sicilia). However, there is a lack of research on the artists themselves, their strategies
and position in the art market.

Problem definition and research question

After the commercial success in the 1980s and 1990s, the Zimbabwean sculpting movement
became increasingly under stress. This commercialisation brought with it a change of actors and new
possibilities as much as constraints. In the past 15 years, as for most Zimbabweans, survival became a
challenge for the sculptors due to the economic and political crisis the country went through.
Additionally to the resulting difficulties the sculptors share the problems of artists in a developing
country. They engage in a risky artistic production which depends on the international market where
they face an imbalanced power relation. This condition requires a constant evaluation of the
situation and the elaboration of strategies in order to adapt to the changing context, influenced by
the national circumstances, the growing commercialisation and the worldwide economic difficulties.
The Zimbabwean stone sculptures need to find ways to live from art and compensate it if needed in
order to confront the multidimensional problems. With a socio-anthropological approach these
aspects should be analysed in this research, answering the following question:

How did the stone sculpting movement in Zimbabwe emerge and evolve over time and how do the
artists adapt to the changing conditions?

This question can best be analysed based on Beckers concept of art world, which considers
art as something social, constructed by a set of activities executed collectively in a network of people.
It allows going beyond the direct production of an artwork but comprehends all surrounding
activities directly or indirectly linked to the artistic production leading to the final appreciation of a
piece of art. With the help of this concept, the following sub-questions are treated: Who are the
most important actors in this art world and how do they interact? Based on these interactions, what
strategies do the artists adopt in order to survive in a changing context as artists? What are the
particularities of this art world compared to conventions in art?

Before getting into the specific case of my research in Zimbabwe, the concept of art world
will be elaborated in depth to serve as a red line throughout the paper.

7
Theoretical framework: the concept of art world
According to the economists Frey and Busenhart, the art market is constructed as all markets
by the supply, here created by the artists, and the demand of the buyer and consumer who meet in a
market situation. The producers of art do not only refer to the artists themselves but to art
institutions such as galleries or museums likewise. The demand is constructed by individuals who are
in the position and prepared to purchase artistic goods. Both, supply and demand create the market
which in the context of art has its most visible demonstration in the form of an auction house. Often
supply and demand are imbalanced where for some creations an oversupply exists without the
corresponding demand, and on the other hand for some artworks the supply cannot cover the
demand (Frey & Busenhart 1997). The definition of the art market as a meeting point of supply and
demand is however reductionist, ignoring important activities needed to link supply and demand
together. Therefore a more sociological approach is needed.

Looking at the work of an artist, Greffe, an economist of arts distinguish two different
paradigms. Either it can be considered as the creation of a product (art as a creation) or as the
participation in an activity (art as an activity). It might seem more obvious to focus on the creation of
a piece of art than on the artistic activity. However, this approach looks at the artist in isolation and
also raises the question of what to consider as an artwork since aesthetic and artistic criteria are
unstable and relative. Looking at art as an activity is a more comprehensive approach. It is not
reduced to the activity of producing an artwork but includes a whole network of people and their
activities needed for the creation and distribution of a piece of art (Greffe 2002). Taking the
sociological approach of art as an activity, leads to a more detailed approach than the one possible
by a mere supply-demand analysis as it includes all different social interaction around art.

This understanding of art as an activity lies on the basis of the sociological concept of art
world created by Howard Becker. Becker looks at art as something social, created by human beings
who cooperate with each other in a network. Art is therefore perceived as collective, resulting from a
process (Becker 1997). In common speech, the word art world is used in a metaphorical way,
referring to the high societys interaction around fashionable and expensive art. Becker however uses
the word in a slightly different way: I have used the term in a more technical way, to denote the
network of people whose cooperative activity, organized via their joint knowledge of conventional
means of doing things, produces the kind of art works that art world is noted for (Becker 1982:xxiv).
Such an art world defined by Becker includes amongst others the following activities: first,
someone needs to have an idea and second, this idea requires to be executed. This execution can be
undertaken by another person than the one who originally had the idea. Third, this creation of an
artwork is dependent on the manufacturing and distribution of material and tools wanted for the
8
production. Those materials could sometimes be produced by the artists themselves, but since it is
time intensive, most artists divert the time to other activities and use the income achieved through
the selling of previous artworks or gained through other activities to purchase the required goods.
Forth, different mechanisms of support are needed for the artwork to emerge and to spread. Such
are all the activities required arranging an exhibition. Fifth, someone has to respond to the
completed piece of art by having an emotional or intellectual reaction to it. The sixth point gathers
the activities wanted to create and maintain a rational behind the chain of activities by giving a
philosophical justification to its creation and distribution. This can occur in the form of reviews in art
magazines or newspapers (Becker 1982). All these different activities executed by a variety of actors
form together an art world and only through the distribution of labour amongst them an artwork can
be valued as such.
If we look at the case of the Zimbabwean stone sculptures those collective activities are
situated in a global context, whereby part of the network is limited to the local context while others
create the connection between the local and the global setting. All those activities are dependent on
each other. In a first step, the provision of the raw stone is a precondition. If the miners are omitted,
the artists can mine the stones themselves, but this would demand high expenditure of time and
effort that would lack in the creation of high quality art afterwards. Second, the artists need tools to
work the stone, which are mainly imported by art dealers or bought by artists while abroad for
workshops. Without the access to these tools, the artists could fabricate the tools themselves but
this decreases their quality and renders the work more difficult, especially when it comes to the work
with hard stones1. As a third step comes the activity of creating the artwork. This part is based on the
creativity of the artist and his talent and skills to put the idea into shape. For this the experience
either through autodidactic training or other forms of teaching is wanted. Additionally the artist
needs to combine his purely artistic activity with other ones. This can either be just the advertising of
himself and the interaction with customers but also combinations with other activities
supplementing his income and allowing the continual work in the field of art. Forth, in order to get in
touch with clients, the artists are dependent on people who create awareness of its existence and a
resulting demand, for instance in the form of publications by art historians. This for example
happened for the Zimbabwean artists through publications by Celia Winter-Irving or reviews of well
received exhibitions in newspapers. These publications can encourage people to travel to Zimbabwe
and purchase the sculptures. They are purchased for personal requirement or by art dealers who
resell the sculptures abroad, either in their own galleries or over the internet. This reselling of
sculptures by the art dealers needs a further combination of activities such as advertisement, the

1
The hardest stones used are Lepidolite, Butterjade and Verdite. Most artists use a variety of Serpentine stones
with the Springstone as its hardest version.
9
creation and printing of flyers and posters and their distribution, the publication of adverts in
newspapers etc. The other option is the export of the sculptures for exhibitions organised by
Zimbabwean art institutions such as the Chapungu Sculpture Park or the National Gallery. All those
different forms are dependent on the work of packing and transport companies.

Methodology
For this research qualitative method was chosen since it is the most suitable tool to answer
my research question and to analyse this specific art world as a collective field with various actors,
interacting with each other as well as the resulting strategies chosen by the artists. This method
allowed to have access to the perspective of the artists and to attain information not available
elsewhere. The data was collected through participant observation and interviews during a three
month field research in Zimbabwe between January and April 2012.

To enter the field, I contacted the artist Dominic Benhura, the owner of the art community
Tengenenge who connected me to Fungai, a member of the management. Fungai received me in
Tengenenge and introduced me to the community. I visited Tengenenge three times, spending in
total one month there. Regarding the Chapungu Sculpture Park, I approached first the 6 artists who
participated in the exhibition I had organised in Switzerland. At first I mainly got to know them, but
through regular visits I became more acquainted with the other artists as well as part of the
management team. These visits in both settings gave me a chance to spend time with the artists, to
participate in their activities such as assisting them in sculpting or simply to emerge in the field, just
as Beaud describes the participant observation (Beaud 1996). Through this participant observation, I
became more comfortable in the setting just as much as it gave the artists time to get used to me
and create confidence. Participant observation is directed towards social practices, gestural as much
as verbal and to analyse how peoples practices give us answers about the functioning of their social
system (Arborio and Fournier 2010). While sitting next to them during their work or working on my
own sculpture, I could observe how the artists create their sculptures and what different productions
emerge out of it. This was especially valuable as a comparison of their ideas regarding what an artist
is supposed to be and their understanding of themselves as artists. Furthermore it allowed observing
the interactions amongst artists and between artists, salesmen and in some instances customers.

Only after an initial period of participant observation where I could establish closer relations
with the artists, semi-structured interviews were conducted. This form allowed having access to the
cultural categories and the hypotheses from which the interviewees themselves construct their
reality (Boutin 2006) and was therefore best suited to analyse the Zimbabwean art world from the
artists perspective. With interviews allowing apprehending social practices in their personal as much
10
as collective trajectory (Beaud 1996) it gave insights into the perceptions of the artists about
themselves and their sensing of the market. Through this form it became possible to derive personal
aspects such as their own trajectory as artists and their perception and opinion about the art world in
its collective form.
In total, 26 people have been interviewed, one of them with a translator. All their names
have been changed in this thesis. Two people were repeatedly interviewed, resulting in 29
interviews. Additionally two group discussions were held with a total of seven artists. The interviews
lasted between 0,5 and 1,5 hours and were all but four fully transcribed with the remaining four only
being transcribed by context. The interviewees consisted of 22 artists with three of them working at
the same time as salesmen and one working as an art teacher in the National Gallery, three salesmen
and one gallery manager. The context of those interviews was concentrated on two sites:
Tengenenge, an art community of around 100 artists in the rural area and the Chapungu Sculpture
Park in Harare. The interviews were mostly conducted at the artists working place as an integral part
of the participant observation. To create an encouraging atmosphere to talk about themselves, their
work and the interactions with customers I worked alongside with them, for example assisting them
in polishing a sculpture. In general, the artists had a high willingness to talk to me2. This is certainly
influenced by the fact that they knew that I organised an exhibition and that I will write something
about them. To them an interview was therefore a way of promotion, where others could read about
them, as well as a way of making people aware of their difficult situation.

To include the art dealers perspective as the most important customer, 30 questionnaires
were sent out to art dealers mentioned in the interviews by the artists. Only five people replied
wherefore the questionnaire are only included marginally in this research.

The result of this research is divided in three parts. In a first chapter, a background of the
development of stone sculpting in Zimbabwe will be given, bringing together the relevant historical
aspects of Zimbabwe and the situation in the art business. The second chapter gives a brief overview
of the field research setting and information about the most important actors in this Zimbabwean art
world artist, salesmen and customers . Chapter three looks at the artist in the centre of this art
world. At first, the interactions within this art market and the artists position are analysed. Aspect of
sale, promotion and support will be highlighted and the artists strategies in order to survive with art
studied. To conclude, these strategies will be put into the context of Zimbabwe as a developing
country and compared to common conventions in art.

2
This willingness can be seen in the fact that in one instance, an artist approached me to ask if I could interview
him as well. This interview differed from the others in a sense that he held much more of a confident discourse
of being a successful artist on his way to fame than it was the case with other artists.
11
1. Historical context3 of stone sculpting in Zimbabwe
Stone sculpting in Zimbabwe is a recent phenomenon and not as such based on an artistic
tradition. Only from the time of Great Zimbabwe (13th - 15th century), eight bird-shaped stone
sculptures were discovered4 while from the period of the 15th to the 20th century, hardly any artistic
production was found. After colonisation in the 19th century with the introduction of the mission
schools, art was introduced into the curriculum. This was not particular to Zimbabwe, but here,
within this context the first promoters of art in Zimbabwe can be found which had as well an impact
on some of the first sculptors. This accounts for Canon Edward Paterson of the Cyrene Mission and
for Father John Groeber of the Serima Mission. The art education of the missions is considered as
having laid the groundwork for teaching in painting and sculpture throughout the country and with
Nicholas Mukomberanwa gave birth to one of the most famous sculptors of the first generation.
Apart from the mission schools, soapstone sculptures were produced for the marginal tourist market
in the 1950s and 60s. Some of those sculptors started to experiment artistically instead of simply
reproducing interpretation of wildlife (Sibanda 2004). At this time, stone sculpting was of no major
importance and just one form of artisanal production to gain income next to others such as basket
weaving or crocheting. It is especially important to keep in mind, that sculpting was by no means a
form of cultural expression (Littlefield 1999). In Zimbabwe, the beginning of the stone sculpture
movement can therefore be traced to the end of the 50s.

1.1 From colonial time to independence (1923-1980): the origin of the art
movement
Similar to other trends of African art emerging in the 50s and 60s in various countries such as
Nigeria, Mozambique, Congo and South Africa the emergence of stone sculpting can be considered
as an act of cultural brokerage by a small number of mainly European supporters (Littlefield 1999). In
Zimbabwean this accounts especially for Frank McEwen and Tom Blomefield.

3
For an overview see Table 1 in the Annex
4
Great Zimbabwe was the capital of the kingdom of Zimbabwe and in its ruins; the birds were perched on
pillars. Based on the Shona culture, the birds are believed to be a metaphor for a mediator between men and
ancestors (see Huffmann 1985)
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Initiative of Frank McEwen in the National Gallery
Central for the promotion of
Frank McEwen
stone sculpting in Zimbabwe as an
McEwen was born 1907 in Mexico and brought up in England.
independent form of contemporary art 1925, he studied painting, restoration and art history in Paris.
During his studies, he was inspired by Gustav Moreau, who
was the founding of the National Gallery insisted in the necessity to avoid direct instruction or coping as
(NGZ). The gallery was opened in 1957 forms of art education while supporting artists to find their
source of creativity within themselves and their culture. Between
under the direction of Frank McEwen at 1938 and 1956 he was active as an art reviewer and curator in
Paris, organising for example in 1945 the first Picasso and
the time when Zimbabwe was a self- Matisse exhibition in London. In 1956 he accepted the position as
director in the National Gallery in Rhodesia (Littlefield 1999).
governing British colony under the name
Southern Rhodesia. The vision of the NGZ was to exhibit art from the developed world and it was
only due to McEwen, that the NGZ extended its area of activity and engaged in the creation of a
contemporary local art movement (Sibanda & Broderick 2011).
McEwen formed a workshop school, where he encouraged his staff to experiment with
artistic creations, mainly painting. Only after Joram Mariga showed his stone carved bowls to
McEwen, the Workshop began to focus on stone carving, especially with the recruitment of John
Takawira and Nicholas Mukomberanwa. In his approach, McEwen avoided everything that could
resemble formal teaching since he perceived this as a disruption of the inherent creativity of a
person. Instead, he shaped the evolution of the art mainly through his criticism of the finished
sculptures, clearly condemning shapes he did not consider as art. In the 60s, McEwen started to
travel abroad to organise international exhibitions for the workshop artists (Curling 2004, Mawdsley
1997). This led to the organisation of exhibitions in London, New York and Paris (between 1962 and
1972). During his time, the NGZ was the main
The Myth of Shona Art
marketing channel for the emerging artists
After the first successful exhibitions, McEwen started to (Sibanda 2004).
influence the artists to take over mystic terms in their
discourse and to create sculptures based on their After the first exhibitions were
mythology. It was mainly McEwen who made an impact
extremely successful, McEwen was concerned
for the Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture to receive the label
of Shona art. This name is inappropriate since the that the artistic talent of the artists would be
artists belong to different ethnic groups and gives a
wrong impression as tribal art. Furthermore, many corrupted by the sudden success and the
aspects of the mythology that were said to be commercial pressure, and as a result formed a
represented in sculptures proofed to be a recent
invention (more on this question see: Sicilia (1999), rural art community. With the help of the
Zilberg (1994)). The artists of today reject the label
sculptor Sylvester Mubayi and Mariga he
Shona Art. Firstly by referring to the fact that the
artists are by far not exclusively Shona and secondly established a community in the Eastern
because it denies them agency as artist and pushes them
into a corner of tribal art or craft: I dont want people Highlands under the name Vukutu. The most
calling me a Shona Artist. Why? Because it sounds very famous artists previously working in the
touristy. (Dominic)
Workshop moved to Vukutu, creating sculptures

13
in the isolation of the rural area (Mawdsley 1997).
In the 1960s, the resistance against foreign rule amongst the white-minority Rhodesian
government led by Ian Smith grew considerably. On the 11th of November 1965 Smith declared the
Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) which resulted in economic sanctions from the United
Nations on request of the British government (Stedman 1993). As a result, McEwen left the NGZ in
1973 due to the growing political and cultural isolation the country faced under UDI and the
increasing conflict within the Board of the NGZ, disagreeing with McEwens focus on African Art in an
atmosphere with growing racist tendencies. After his departure the support towards stone carving
sharply decreased, yet the sculptures remained a central part of the permanent exhibition of the NGZ
(Curling 2004).

The Impact of Joram Mariga

The impact of Joram Mariga on the evolvement of the Zimbabwean Stone sculpting is the
least documented. In 1958 Mariga, originally an agricultural engineer in Nyanga, started sculpting on
a block of steatite and created at first conventional pieces such as teapots, boxes and realistic busts.
Without being aware of the possibility to earn money through art, he started carving for pleasure. He
collected a few blocks and created a workshop (Sultan 1992). The group consisted of about 20
members, amongst them Crispen Chakanyuka (Marigas Cousin) as well as the Takawira brothers
John, Bernard and Patrick (Ola 2010). Only in 1961, when Mariga approached McEwen with one of
his sculptures, the latter became aware of the existence of this group of artists and started to
integrate them into his own workshop. The same year he organised an exhibition of Mariga and John
Takawira in the NGZ. With their introduction into the sphere of the NGZ, McEwen assimilated their
art forms to his own plans by guiding them towards more mythological representations, increasingly
created in hard stone instead of wood and soapstone (Littlefield 1999).

The founding of Tengenenge

The sanctions after the UDI influenced the creation Tom Blomefield
of another centre of sculpting. With the difficulties to Blomefield, from Irish descendants grew
export, commercial farming came under stress and many up in South Africa and came to
Rhodesia in 1943 at the age of 17. At
Tobacco farmers feared for their survival. One of them was first, he worked on tobacco farms as a
farm labourer until starting his own farm
Tom Blomefield. in the Guruve area, producing tobacco
and earning additional income with a
To maintain a source of income and create
chrome mine (Lammertink 1994).
occupation for his labourer, he tried to shift his activities and
was given the idea by Crispen Chakanyuka, to start a stone sculpting community, benefitting of the
huge Serpentine deposit on Blomefields land. As a result, Blomefield founded the art community

14
Tengenenge in 1966, where he first encouraged his employees to start sculpting, increasingly
attracting other people who wanted to experiment with stone (Sibanda 2004). In the beginning,
McEwen supported Tengenenge and was its major customer. However, with time, the relation
between McEwen and Blomefield deteriorated, mainly due to their different understanding of art
and the activity of the artists. McEwen insisted on reducing the number of artists working in
Tengenenge and only including those with particular talent. His argument was to ensure a high level
of quality to maintain a positive reputation of Zimbabwean stone sculpture amongst art critics.
Blomefield on the other hand aimed at keeping art open to anyone who felt like trying his talent and
believed that everybody could be an artist and insisted on economic and aesthetic independence for
the artists5. Not only ideological differences drove them apart but as well the fact that McEwen tried
to control the market by selling sculptures from Tengenenge under the label of his workshop school
(Mawdsley 1997). Consequently of the growing tensions, the artists in Tengenenge decided to reduce
their collaboration with the NGZ and to organise themselves the marketing of their sculptures with
help of the commission upon sale to cover the expenses. At the same time, McEwen ceased to
exhibit pieces from Tengenenge from 1969 onwards out of fear for the reputation of the workshop
through the promotion of art below his standard (Littlefield 1999).
Activities in Tengenenge were disrupted in the 70s by the independence struggle6 against
white-minority rule and war between the different black liberation parties, who were ideologically
divided and fighting for power. Since most of the fighting took place in the rural area, Blomefield left
the country while most of the artist sought refuge in the capital Salisbury. With the signing of the
Lancaster Agreement in 1979, the war ended and Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980 under
the rule of Robert Mugabe and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) (Stedman 1993). After
the conflict most artists returned to Tengenenge.

The initial role of Chapungu

Chapungu started as a small gallery in the centre of Salisbury in 1970 under the direction of
Roy Guthrie with the goal to promote this art form and to support the artists. It did not play a role in
the origin of the art movement as such but was central for supporting and promoting individual
artists and the movement as a whole. The gallery had an especially important role during the
independence struggle and after the departure of McEwen and the step-back of the NGZ as
promoter of the sculptors (Guthrie 1997).

5
In this disagreement between McEwen and Blomefield we can see the difference between an elitist approach
on art, focusing on genuine pieces and a developmental perspective, where art is an activity to generate
income. This distinction will be treated later on.
6
Often referred to as Second Chimurenga
15
1.2 First years of independence (1980 2000): the Golden Years of stone
sculpting
At the time of independence in 1980 the government of Mugabe engaged in various socialist-
oriented policies with agricultural programs, subsidies for primary health care and the increased
access to school enrolment. This resulted in comparable social standards but at the same time led to
a budget deficit due to the high social investment which consequences started to be felt by the end
of the 1990s (Alwang et.al 2002).
For the stone sculptors the 1980s and 90s can be described as the Golden Years. Through the
promotion made in the 70s by McEwen and Blomefield abroad, the sculpture movement had gained
international recognition and could furthermore profit from a strengthened national economy
including the attraction of tourism.
Looking at the three institutions presented above, the NGZ played only a marginal role in the
further development and will not be treated further. Tengenenge, while in the first years of its
existence only a small community started to attract artists after independence due to a growing
demand for sculptures, resulting in an increase to about 300 active artists at the end of the 90s.
Chapungu as well started to expand. With the wish to exhibit more and especially bigger sculptures,
Guthrie bought land of about 30 acres outside of Harare in 1985 and established the Chapungu
Sculpture Park, a place of outdoor exhibition. It became the biggest art gallery in the country,
showing the most important permanent collection of Zimbabwean sculptures. Its aim was the
preservation of the sculptures of previous generations of artists as well as the strengthening of the
current artists (Guthrie 1997).
For the artists themselves, the 80s and especially the 90s were highly profitable and most
artists could accumulate considerable wealth. In Chapungu, business was boosting and artists could
sell four to five sculptures per week especially due to the fact that Chapungu was organising overseas
exhibitions, to which the sculptures were exported. Tengenenge as well profited of a continual
clientele with art dealers increasingly coming to buy sculptures for reselling.
This situation of high demand resulted in a social uplifting for the artists. According to the
artists who experienced this period it was a time where major investments that increased their social
status could be made. Most artists invested in cattle, cars and housing. One artist observed that the
artists around him were buying some houses, some of them buying cars, some of them putting their
school kids on a good school. They could afford everything they want (Richard). Investment for the
extended family was as well central. Many supported their families or could afford to pay the Lobola,
the bride price a man is supposed to pay to his wifes family.
Those artists in town reported a monthly income between 2,000 and 4,000US$: In one
month you could get maybe 4,000 US if you change it into US. A month, it was possible. But that was
16
a good month and sometimes you make only 2000. Which is still good (Richard). Compared to the
GNI per Capita in Zimbabwe in those years, the artists achieved an income above average. In 1981,
the GNI was the highest in the whole period of independence with 1,080$, which started to drop
constantly from 1983 onwards. In 1997, when artists could still earn a good living, the GNI was down
to 670$, still on a strong downward trend (World Bank 2012).
Not only in the urban area but as well in Tengenenge, the artists could improve their
livelihoods. The artists achieved a comfortable life investing in cars, bicycles or houses in the
neighbouring town Mvurwi. The nutrition improved as well considerably with people eating Sadza7
everyday but not with pumpkin leaves, that one is a problem, people dont have money during that
time. People were eating Sadza, meat, maybe fish, Sadza, maybe dried Kapenta8, vegetable was only
part of it (Mambo).
The creation of legends: Bernard Matemera
This period, where shortly after independence
Bernard Matemera here in Tengenenge, he
sculptors could accumulate wealth, was suited for the bought houses in Mvurwi, he had about four cars,
I mean posh cars, Mercedes Benz.(Tapfuma)
creation of legends where some artists turned for their
fellows as well as for the nation into ideals. The most Seven cars, tractor plus some cattle at home in
his rural home and then maybe a seven tonne
frequent mentioned example is Bernard Matemera, a lorry and two houses in Mvurwi. He had two
sculptor who achieved international fame. wives, another wealth. During that time it was
difficult for someone to have one car and he was
Personalities like him played a central role in attracting having more than five cars during that time. But
most people, they were having only one car but
the following generations of artists9.
fashioned ones but he was having more than five
cars. (Mambo)

In their discourse of those Golden Years the artists switch between the glorification of the
past and a reflected analysis of its reason. On one side, they talk of the good old days when
customers were coming and when they managed to obtain from their profession as artists an income
permitting them a living standard above average. On the other hand they give clear argument on
why it was possible in those days to be successful artists. First of all the fact that in those years fewer
artists were active and only by the end of the 1990s the competition could be felt in business.
Without having to compete with each other, higher prices could be obtained. Second, the artists
realise that the customers could afford the sculptures better than in the later days due to the value
of the Zimbabwean dollar. At the same time, the Zimbabwean dollar was still valuable enough for the
artists to make profitable deals, which was not the case during the hyperinflation. Third, due to the
fact that the general economy of the country was stable, more people had employment. Therefore
various members of the family were earning an income which cushioned the family and could

7
Sadza: Maize porridge, main staple food in Zimbabwe
8
Kapenta: Small, dried fish
9
This aspect of the inspiration based on those ideals will be elaborated more in depth in the next chapter when
talking about artists motivation.
17
compensate months without sale and allow the artists to accumulate wealth without having to
finance the whole family, which instead started to be the case later on. These Golden Years came to
an end towards 2000 first due to the growing economic difficulties at the end of the 90s but mainly
following the Fast Track Land Reform and its consequences in 2000.

1.3 Political and economic crisis (2000 Today): the decay

The following chapter addresses chronologically the most important historical events of the
past twelve years and their impact on the artists in Tengenenge and Chapungu.

The land reform

After independence, most productive land was in possession of the white minority. As a
reaction to this historical injustice and growing political tensions, the government speeded up its
land redistribution program and implemented the Fast Track Land Reform in 2000. The land reform
with violent eviction of mainly white farmers and suspected supporters of the opposition was
accompanied by an anti-imperial discourse with growing racism against the white minority, fuelled
by the government. Within the period of a year, about 10 million ha land were dispossessed
(Compagnon 2011, UNDP 2002).

Having always been dependent on the export market, directly after the land reform many
customers failed to come, pushed back by the racist discourse of Mugabe. As a result, the demand on
sculptures decreased. However, after the most violent phase in 2000 was over, some of the
customers returned. The impact was felt differently in the rural and the urban area. Tengenenge
being remote in the rural area was much more affected. Most of the farms in the surrounding areas
were occupied and changed their owners in 2000 and the following years. Since in the international
media the land reform was very much present, customers were given the impression that it was
impossible to reach Tengenenge10. The land occupation was a mixed blessing for the Tengenenge
artists. On one side they suffered the decreasing inflow of customers while on the other side through
the land reform they were given means to compensate at least by a small part the loss of income. In
the years before the land occupation, most artists were focusing on sculpting and were not involved
in farming since they had enough cash to buy their food supply. After the occupation they could
negotiate with some of the new landowners to cultivate a small portion of their land.

10
The Tengenenge artists criticise the media for dramatizing the event since to them the place was still safe to
be reached by foreigners
18
The economic collapse and the hyperinflation
This massive compulsory acquisition of farm land led to a drastic decline of production which
had a high impact on the country whose agricultural production prior to the reform accounted for
20% of Zimbabwes GDP and its export summed up to about 40% of the foreign currency earning.
The decline in production led to an acute shortage of foreign exchange rendering the import of
needed commodities difficult (Compagnon 2011, UNDP 2002). The shortage of imported goods did
not only affect the individuals but had further negative consequences on the economy. Local
companies depending on imported products for their industrial production had to close down since
the needed commodities, above all fuel, were no longer available or affordable (Bird & Busse 2007).
This collapse of the local economy led to an increasing budget deficit, causing an inflation rate that
reached a level of 231 million % in 2008 (Makochekanwa 2008).

The artists felt the impact of the inflation on their business. According to them the inflation
benefitted the buyers: If you changed a (US) dollar you would get some millions and to buy a
sculpture, you could buy a sculpture for a dollar because our dollar really got down (Tapfuma). Most
of the customers exchanged the money on the black market at a profitable exchange rate. For the
artists on the other hand hardship increased through the valueless money: In the time of the Zim
dollar, they (the buyers) were killing the artists (Takawira). The money they received was worthless
and since some buyers used to pay in check, by the time of cashing, the value of the money had
further decreased.

In the first five years of the Millennium new people started to come into the art business.
With the collapsing economy and the dissolution of salaries and increasing unemployment linked to
the close-down of many industries, people were in need and spread out to other opportunities.
Sculpting having been a rentable business a decade before attracted many of them in search for
income:

There was no other opportunity; there was nothing else to do. So they just (tried sculpting).
Of course, some of them were artists, but others were just doing it for survival. (Most were
commercial, but) you cannot blame them for that. They needed to survive; they needed the
money because there was nothing else (Eddie).

After 2005 the situation worsened further, due to the growing economic difficulties and
customers becoming fewer and fewer. The worst point was reached in 2008, where most customers
avoided the country due to security reasons. This downwards trend resulted in the drop-out of artists
in search for other income options since artistic production did not proof to be rentable any longer:

19
When (business) started shrinking, people started to move out, they started to do other things
(Thomas).

The political crisis of 2008

This economic collapse was accompanied by a political crisis with various episodes of violent
clashes especially in 2008. In the presidential election of 2008 Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement of
Democratic Change (MDC) and Simba Makoni as a reformist ZANU-PF candidate were running against
Mugabe. First it was widely believed that Mugabe had lost the election but the results were not
released for about a week, announcing finally a slight victory for Tsvangirai which required a second
election (Godwin 2010). Prior to the run-off elections a massive wave of government sponsored
violence against supporters of the opposition caused Tsvangirai to withdraw from the election,
leaving Mugabe as the only candidate. The elections were neither recognized by the African Union
nor the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which pressed for the installation of a
government of national unity. After weeks of talks under the mediation of Thabo Mbeki, the
agreement of the unity government was signed on the 15th September 2008 (Zondi 2011).

2008 is for most of the artists described as the worst year. It was a darkness (Jim) through
the combination of political violence and food shortage combined with lacking clientele. In
Tengenenge as much as in Chapungu the impact of decreasing sales could be felt. However the
violence and the food shortage were much more acute in Tengenenge. Since the artists are doing
business with foreign, white customers, and considered by trend close to the opposition, the art
community was affected by political violence. In two instances groups of war veterans and ZANU-PF
youth entered the village and were haphazardly beating the artists.

The introduction of the US Dollar

After various attempts to stop the inflation through the introduction of a new Zimbabwean
dollar had failed, the country abandoned its own currency and took over the US dollar officially on
12th April 2009. As a result, the economic situation stabilised and economically the countrys
performance improved. The money was reliable again and various businesses returned. While at the
time of the inflation, many imported products were not available anymore; with the dollar the
market recovered (Noko 2011). At the same time, with the dollarization living costs in Zimbabwe
increased significantly. This affected the art business as well since suddenly the buyers had to pay in
US$ which made business less profitable to them. Acquisition costs for the sculptures and expenses
increased, resulting in fewer sales for the artists:

20
 When we got into the US dollars () to charge a client a piece 10$ is now affecting him too
much. It is affecting mainly the artists and the clients as well because when a client came
with a 100 $ the time we had our own dollar, you would buy probably a container. But now if
you come with 100US$ you just buy a sculpture (Tapfuma).

The economic and political crisis resulting from those years had a strong impact on the
population. As a result of the economic crisis unemployment rose to about 80% and people faced
increased impoverishment. 72% of the population were living below the Total Consumption Poverty
Line and 29% below the Food Poverty Line in 2003 (UNDP 2010). This is as well reflected in the GNI
per capita. Having been on a downward trend since the early years of independence, it was down to
490$ in 2000, reaching 320$ in 2008 (World Bank 2012).

While in the 1980s and 90s most artists could get a regular and comparable high income
through monthly sales, financial success of most artists between 2000 and 2005 was linked to
specific events. This accounts mainly for those artists who managed to travel overseas,
accompanying exhibitions or giving workshops which offered them the possibility to sell their
sculptures directly abroad to better prices. One example is Richard: 2003 was good because I went
to a workshop in the Netherlands and could buy a stand in my rural home, cattle, furniture and buy
some shares in OK11 (Richard) Other artists could cushion the difficulties with occasional sales of
bigger sculptures, giving them the cash to do some major investment. Towards 2008 the situation
deteriorated with monthly sales being seldom and surviving as an artist becoming a challenge: In
the difficult times, because there were no customers, there were no tourists coming, it was really
hard to survive and you would find most of the artists would leave their work, their art and go and
work somewhere (Tapfuma). Especially for those artists who did not manage to make a name
internationally like Dominic Benhura the consequences were felt. As well those who entered the
business during the late 90s and not yet had the chance to make important investments such as a
house were much less cushioned from the difficulties of this decade.

The artists show high reflexivity in order to explain why these hardships occur. They identify
reasons on the macro-, meso- and micro level. First, they are aware of the current worldwide
economic difficulties and name the world recession as one of the reasons why they cannot live as
well from art as they used to: If I have a dollar I would rather keep my dollar in my pocket and see
what will come out. I might have a little bit to spare but I can't spent the way I was spending before

11
OK: Franchise Division of Shoprite, a South African retail- and fast food company
(http://www.shopriteholdings.co.za)
21
(Thomas). Second and predominantly they blame the situation. With that, they refer to the national
occurrences such as the land occupations, the economic difficulties and the political crisis. Most
often elections are perceived as impacting negatively and based on their experience politics is
something that carries with it harmful consequences on their lives. Third, as well individual behaviour
is blamed for the difficulties felt. Some artists mentioned that most of them could be better off
nowadays if they would have been more careful with the money during the Golden Years and made
better investments: "Someone can just take that money and squander that money, using it for beer,
drinking and making girlfriendsthat is why some of them are still down and their life is still very
difficult for them to survive (Itai).
After this strong downfall the Zimbabwean art world is still in crisis and the artists struggling
to survive. This actual stage which requires its specific strategies will be presented in the following.

2. The stone sculpture movement in Zimbabwe as an art world

As seen in the theoretical framework, an art world consists of a network where all the
involved actors contribute to the creation and distribution of an artwork. Art is therefore considered
as a social process emerging from collective activities that are directly or indirectly linked to the
artistic production. In the following two chapters the art world of the Zimbabwean stone sculptors
will be illustrated focusing on the artists. In a second step, the particularities of this art world, as an
art world in a developing country compared to art worlds in general will be elaborated.

2.1 The description of the field - Tengenenge and Chapungu at present

In Zimbabwe12 a variety of different galleries exists, although their number got reduced since
2005. For this research Tengenenge and Chapungu were chosen since both are historically important
and experienced the ups and downs of the past. At the same time this choice offered the comparison
of the rural and urban reality of artists.

Tengenenge
Tengenenge is located 150km north of
Harare between the cities Mvurwi and Guruve. It
consists of a village of 104 households, an open
air gallery with working places for the artists as
well as a museum with sculptures from the first
generation.

Image 1: Tengenenge gallery & working place

12
For a map, see annex 2
22
 Tengenenge is a self-running private
company. The land and the company as
such belong to the artist Dominic Benhura
who bought it in 2007 from Blomefield. Due
to the economic and political crisis and the
resulting lacking clientele, Benhura had to
invest in Tengenenge in order to be able to
pay the claims of the company owned mines
and to cover the salaries of the employees.
Image 2: The village Tengenenge These expenses were not possible to be
maintained for a longer period, especially in
a situation where Benhura could feel the impact of the world recession on the sale of his sculptures.
In 2011 he handed over the responsibility to a management team consisting of five people; three
salesmen, a sales manager and a pay master, each of them receiving a monthly salary of 150$. The
income of the company derives mainly from the 35% commission each artist has to pay to the
company upon selling his sculptures and the additional income coming from the sale of raw stones
from the companys mine. The company owns the claims of 34 mines; Springstone and Serpentine in
the surrounding area, Opal close to Chiweshe and Steatite in Guruve. With this income, the salaries
of the management team and the five miners currently employed in the mines, the latter earning
between 50 and 85$ monthly, are paid. Additionally Tengenenge has to pay 800$ per month to the
mining commissioner for the claims for the mines.
Tengenenge is home to about 100 artists and their families. Most of them are male, with only
six female sculptors being active. It is a heterogeneous community where still some of the first artists
remained. This generation consists to a big part of people from surrounding countries that came to
Zimbabwe in search for work and their sons and daughters who remained in Tengenenge.
Additionally, many young artists who started after 2000 work in Tengenenge. In return for the 35%
commission the artists are given the space to build a mud house in the village, can profit of the water
facilities with drinking water coming directly from a source and are given the raw stone for free. If
they do sell to a customer abroad, it is up to the management to organise the transport and to
secure the money for it.

23
Perceptions of Tengenenge

By artists in Harare:
- As a National Heritage (Dominic)
- As a backward place: They are not
sophisticated, they are country
people mostly (Mandla)
- As a place of mass-production:
The only problem is, that they are
repeating things, but some of the
art is goodtheir art is more about
culture. (Richard)
- As a cheap place (Thulani)
By the art dealers, in the opinion of
Tengenenge artists:
- As a wholesale: If I go (to
Tengenenge) at the end of my trip,
the things that I want, I will still find
them and I will use the change or the
loose money in Tengenenge
(Tapfuma)
Of the people in Tengenenge:
- As a heritage: Most of (the
customers) would come to
Tengenenge, because Tengenenge is
like the mother source, this is where
it all began (Tapfuma)
- As an opportunity: Tengenengeis
like a collegeit is a place to build up
your name. Then if you built up your
name, if you are big, you have to
move somewhere (Jim)

Chapungu
The Chapungu Sculpture Park
with a surface of 30 acres exists since
1985 as a private company owned by Roy
Guthrie and is located in Msasa, Harare.
Its vision is to encourage the artists to
work on large sculptures, powerful to
make a statement to anybody in the
world (Thomas) and to preserve art
through the permanent collection which
is considered as a heritage and includes
Image 3: The Chapungu Sculpture Park
sculptures from the first generation and
other famous artists. Those sculptures are not supposed to be for sale, but linked to the economic
hardship some of them were recently sold. The park faced a strong decay in the past ten years and
decreased in size as well as artists represented. In the good times, the artists had to pay 40%
commission, but were given the possibility to buy raw stones directly in Chapungu at purchase price,
which spared them the transport costs and assistance in getting tools. Furthermore they had the
possibility to borrow money without interest rates.
In the years prior to 2004, Chapungu was active in opening the access for their artists to the
international market through the organisation of exhibitions in countries such as the US, Germany,
UK, Netherlands, South Africa, Israel, Singapore, Austria and Australia. Furthermore Chapungu
helped the artists to link with the international market through the partnership with the Chapungu
Sculptural Park in Loveland, Colorado (USA) established thanks to the relation between Guthrie and
the Arts Community Loveland in 2001. The Park in Loveland is however closed since 2010.

24
 Since 2011 the commission for the artists increased to 50% but the artists no longer receive
any of the benefits that they used to. At present, 22 artists are selling their sculptures in Chapungu,
most of them working there while others just bringing their sculptures for sale. The income that the
company makes with the 50% commission is used for the running cost which is mainly the salaries of
the employment of 24 people, including salesmen, gardeners, cleaners and guards.
The decay of Chapungu is linked to the general decrease in the stone sculpting movement
but also to the departure of Guthrie who still owns the place but who lives abroad since 2005.

Perceptions of Chapungu

By represented Artists By the management By the customers, in the opinion of the

people in Chapungu
- A place of quality: Compared to other - A place of quality maintenance
places we (keep) up well, because the (Thomas) - As too expensive
spirit of quality is still here where as at - A reference through the known artists - As a reference: (The art dealers) they
other placesthere is no quality who worked there in the past will come and survey what is good.
control, they are not ashamed just (Thomas) (Thomas)
doing anything. But here we try to
maintain (Mandla)
- An opportunity since the place is well
marketed (John)
- An honour since many famous artists
came from here (John)

Within the context of these two settings, information on the actors of this art world was
collected and the three most important actors analysed in the following chapter.

2.2 The actors in the art world of Zimbabwean stone sculpture

2.2.1 Artist
This section aims to give an overview on who the artists are, what motivation pushes them
towards sculpting and how the skills are formed. It can be observed, that in the past fifty years of this
art movement those different aspects have slightly changed from generation to generation.

Initiation to stone sculpting

Three different forms of initiation into stone sculpting can be observed: transmission within
family, getting in touch with sculpting through random contact or starting sculpting after having been
active with other forms of creative productions.

25
 The most frequent entrance into sculpting occurs through family transmission. Most often
the initiation happens between brothers, a trend which still goes on today. Besides, the line travels
from parents to children, especially in the case of the first generation artists such as Nicholas
Mukomberanwa, Amali Malola, Henry Munyaradzi and others, wherefrom clans of sculptors
emerged. Since those famous first generation artists are only few, only a couple of those clans exist.
Nowadays, with the difficulties to survive as artists, sculptors encourage decreasingly their children
to sculpt. Additionally, the extended family plays a role in the introduction to sculpting, such as
passing on the skills between cousins, from grandfather to grandson or uncle to nephew. The few
female sculptors were initiated to sculpting either through their parents or their husbands and very
few started sculpting autonomously.

The second form of initiation occurs through random contact. Those artists without sculptors
amongst their extended families became attracted to sculpting through direct contact with artists.
This can be the case through growing up close to a gallery or art community, working in the
surroundings or executing at first another profession such as salesman or packer in those art
institutions. Especially in Tengenenge, where farm workers quit their employment and joined the art
community this was common.

Third, sculptors are initiated into this field of art after having exercised other artistic
activities beforehand, most often wood carving or painting. Few of them were trained in art
institutions but most where either autodidactic artists or came from a family of carvers or other
artisan background.

Looking at my sample of artists, the sculptors starting during the period up to the 1990s were
either active as artists with other media before starting to sculpt or were drawn into the art
movement by coincidence such as working closely to art communities like Tengenenge. Only from
the 90s the factor of the family transmission becomes important, most likely based on the success
that was known in this period and the desire to introduce other people of the own family into this
lucrative field.

Formation and Training

Regarding the different career paths of the artists, four forms of formation can be
distinguished: autodidactic training, learning while being an assistant, getting trained by family
members and friends or acquiring the skills through formal art education13.

13
. Some of the artists pass through several of these forms while others receive a mixed version for example
being employed as assistants of relatives.
26
 Most of the first generation artists but as well members of the younger generation progress
through autodidactic training where they sculpt by themselves and improve through experience.
Often their attempts are replenished by advice from senior sculptors to help them advance. Apart
from the learning by doing and the need to work hard and keep on experimenting, those artists
highlight the importance of observation. By looking at the other artists, their way of handling the
tools and the techniques are copied and experimented on their own sculptures.

Another form of training is absolved through the time as an assistant. Being an assistant is
not only a form of training but as well part of the division of labour and an expression of the
commercialisation. The assistant develops the skills of a sculptor under the observation of his master
by learning step by step how to sculpt. Only in his spare time is he allowed to sculpt his own
sculptures where he receives assistance and feedback from his master. Assistants are perceived as a
sign of the commercialisation because that they are increasingly linked to the fabrication of mass-
production. If an artist receives an order from a customer he often looks for assistants to accomplish
the order. Here, the educational aspect is reduced, dominated mainly by commercial motives.

Especially artist from sculptor families grow up with sculpting and learn step by step through
observation of their relatives work and their feedback on their own attempts. Here, knowledge and
skills are passed on within the family where the most important aspect lies in the transmission of
know-how and less in the use of labour force on the own sculptures as sometimes the case with
assistance. Sometimes upcoming artists spend years working alongside with older sculptors of their
families and working under their guidelines. Although this helps to perfect their skills, the close
collaboration hampers the development of an own style.

Few artists base their artistic skills on formal training. This is mostly acquired in the
workshop school of the NGZ and its successor the BAT school, nowadays the Visual Arts School. In the
past, training in the mission schools or in Bulawayo in the Mzilikazi Art and Craft Centre or the School
of Arts Bulawayo were important for training. However, only a marginal number of sculptors go
through formal training. This is a decreasing trend since previously those institutions used to focus on
sculpting while now being directed to all type of media.

Motivation and inspiration of the artists

The motivation to become a sculptor is either innate or extrinsic. Amongst the innate
motives we can count talent and passion for art as well as supernatural reasons. Often their career
as artists is explained based on their artistic talent which was unfolded in early age, most likely in
school in the form of drawings. Other reason to sculpt is the passion for doing it. The artists talk
about the pleasure of sculpting, of entertaining themselves by creating different forms and shapes: I
27
am doing art for life because I am enjoying it (John) or feel a positive effect of sculpting on their
well-being: It withdraws all the bad things I am thinking inside of my brain (Jim). Furthermore, to
some of them art is omnipresent in their lives; they have never known and never done anything else.
Additionally, some artists feel pushed by supernatural powers where artists recall dreams and visions
of being artists and their skills as something inborn where being an artist is a mission they have to
follow. These supernatural aspects were only mentioned a few times and can either be formed out of
conviction or be part of a discourse to present themselves as inborn artists. The latter can be
assumed based on the similarity with the discourse encouraged by McEwen who promoted the art as
being based on Shona tradition, where talent is deduced from the culture and therefore innate. Here,
the presentation of oneself as an inborn artist is supposed to serve as a marketing strategy.
The other aspects mentioned can be considered as extrinsic motivations, all aiming at the
achievement of recognition, either in the form of social recognition or based on financial success.
Most artists express their vision to achieve credit as artists and feel encouraged through the
participation in exhibitions and the granting of awards and certificates: I have some certificates; that
is what encouraged me to carry on, because I could see that I can take it as a career because I am
good at it (Mandla). While most remain modest in the perception of themselves and their vision,
two express their desire to achieve greatness by accomplishing international fame and making
history. However, the most frequent motive although expressed discretely is the motivation through
financial reward. Most artists starting in the 90s report that they were interested in sculpting but
were further incited through the financial success they discovered amongst the artists. This was
observed by Tapfuma: Some of (the artists) were just making sculptures because one artist has
made money out of it, why not try. You would find that in most cases we have artists that are
chancers. The attraction to art as an income opportunity is also evoked by inspiring figures;
successful artists who are known of having accumulated wealth through art such as Bernard
Matemera or Dominic Benhura.

While the first generation artists could not evocate examples of successful sculptors, they
were driven by the passion for art and their artistic talent. Their form of expressing their motivation
for art is less rational but more based on the excitement of the artistic creation as an on-going
experiment based on the own work combined with the inspiring exchange and shared ideas with
other artists. They try to spread this enthusiasm for art amongst the younger generation in a
paternalistic approach through training, advice and assistance in their development. As described by
Tapfuma, (they) try to nurse them, to promote them and also if an artist is a very good artist they
would advise him to do different things and to be like imaginative, not to repeat himself. So they had
a very good promotion on young artists.

28
 Artists who started after 1990 express their motivation to a greater extend in a reflected and
rational form. To them art is a passion only on one side. They cannot take it just as a ludic pleasure
but need to ensure income and approach therefore art more as a profession. This was best expressed
by Kazana: I was just attracted to the things people used to do here (in Chapungu) and also the
monetary issue I considered. The reference to financial aspects as a source of motivation results
from two contrary reasons: first in the mid-90s they could refer to the successful artists as role
models14 and aspiring to gain the same wealth as they did and second, the search of an income
opportunity in the economic crisis after 2000. The first part would refer to the creation of figures of
success where a specific group of people turns in the imagination of the larger population into a
source of aspiration. This is mainly based on the perception of social ascension and the accumulation
of wealth. This accumulation was observed amongst sculptors where some artists gained wealth and
managed to invest on one hand in western status symbols such as posh cars and houses as much as
in traditional symbols of wealth like cattle and for a few of them a second wife. This phenomenon of
the creation of those role models based on their success and used as an inspiration can be observed
in most African countries. However, those ideals are interchangeable depending on the economic
and political situation, where different groups found ways for advancement while others disappeared
again into the crowd. While at first after the independence functionaries and people with political
power were admired, other groups, like in Zimbabwe the sculptors, emerged and could prove the
existence of an alternative way of advancement (Bangas & Warnier 2001). Some artists of the older
generation criticise their younger fellows for their focus on art as a mean to gain income and the
resulting concentration on marketable sculptures which to them is a sign of lacking creativity. Some
go as far as to deny them the status of artists as in the case of Bernard: Most of the young artists in
their work, they just copy, they are not thinking their own things. Young people they are coming in
into the fieldmaybe because of scarcity of jobthey are just trying to be artists.
Around 2005 the sculptors lost their position as a figure of success. While it was first believed
that as artist money could be made easily, after the first years of the millennium it became evident
that this career did not anymore represent an option to achieve recognition but would be at most a
mean to make ends meet. Therefore, the aspiration was not anymore to become rich, but simply to
survive and to try to gain some money with art where other opportunities were lacking. Therefore
the discourse of the artists regarding the extrinsic motivation of financial reward behind sculpting
navigates between the inspiration through figures of success and a survival strategy. At present it is a
mean to earn a modest income which requires hard work as much as luck whereas the sculptor as a
figure of success is referred to as a myth of the past.

14
For the question of artists that serve as role model compare with p.16-17
29
 In conclusion we can say that in the past, this art world went through three different stages.
At first the few artists who were by trend autodidact were driven by their passion for art and
producing high quality sculptures with which they reached international fame. In the second stage
this success and the financial reward linked to sculpting attracted newcomers; family members of the
first generation or others who came in contact with artists, who were then trained by family
members or by friends as assistants. With the economic crisis of the past years, art turned from a
possibility of social ascension towards a mean of survival with other income opportunities lacking,
attracting decreasingly artists.
The career of the artists in Tengenenge and Chapungu are comparable and no significant
differences can be found regarding initiation, training or motivation. The biggest divergence
regarding the artists exists in the interactions amongst the artists themselves. In Chapungu the
competition between the artists are much higher, linked as well to the fact that urban life is more
expensive and therefore the pressure to sell higher. Furthermore in Chapungu the artists just share
their working time together while in Tengenenge the artists live in one village and share as well their
spare time. From the fact of living together comes the designation art community. In both contexts
the artists do assist each other occasionally in their work but at the end of the day, all of them are
trying to make ends meet by themselves and hardly any collective activity to improve their
livelihoods can be observed.

2.2.2 Salesmen
Both settings, Tengenenge and
Chapungu, have salesmen attached to the
gallery which are acting as intermediate
between the artists and the customers and
therefore playing an important role in the
network of the art world by connecting the
local sphere of the artist and his work with the
global market. Officially, the salesmans job is
to receive the visitors, showing them around
and giving explanations about the art and the
artists. If the customer is interested in a
particular sculpture, the salesman is in charge
of the bargaining. The salesman accepts the
money from the customer, deducing the
commission for the company and giving the
Biography: Tapfuma (Salesman)
Tapfuma was born 1970 in Murewa. After his father passed
away in 1987 he found employment in Chapungu due to
the friendship between Tapfumas father and Chapungus
director Guthrie. He received an on the job training by
Guthrie as well as the other salesmen. After some personal
differences he left Chapungu in 1994 and joined for six
months the Matombo Gallery in Harare before re-joining
Chapungu. In 2000 he quit Chapungu for good and went to
the Netherlands where he worked for the next two years in
a gallery, helping to organise a major exhibition. Later in
2003 he worked for a German art dealer assisting in the
organisation of exhibitions in botanic gardens where his job
was to set up the exhibition, raise and polish the pieces and
negotiate with the clients. In 2005 he was back in
Zimbabwe and could not find employment since many
galleries had closed down. After having accepted a job in
another field he joined between 2006 and 2007 the Gallery
Africa. Having known Dominic Benhura from his time in
Chapungu, Dominic invited him to join Tengenenge after he
had bought the place. Since 2008 Tapfuma works as a
salesman and part of the management team in
Tengenenge.
30
rest, 65% in Tengenenge and 50% in Chapungu, to the artist. It is believed that the salesmen are
better equipped to negotiate than the artists themselves and therefore in the position to achieve a
better price. At the same time, their presence let assume lacking trust towards the artists who might
not hand over part of the gain to the management. Although the artists criticise the salesmen as will
be seen below, many appreciate their function since it spares them administrative tasks and gives
them more time to focus on the art itself. While some artists are seldom present at their stands and
spending their time with other activities, the salesmen are constantly present to represent the
artists. However, the self-perception of the salesmen differs from the way they are perceived by the
artists.

Self-Perception of the Salesmans role versus Perception of the salesmen by the artist
From the perspective of the salesmen, their job goes in their opinion further than the mere
selling of sculptures. They see their duty in the protection of the artists against unscrupulous art
dealers by helping them to achieve an acceptable price, reflecting the value of the sculpture.
Following their discourse, the salesmen try to sell the sculptures for as much as possible, which
worships the sculpture more and is therefore favouring the artist since it increases his reputation. In
Tapfumas words: My job is to try and charge the right price for the right piece and put value of each
piece. Give it a valuesome other clientsthey want to pay little to the artist, thats why I am there
to protect them, so that they can be better paid (Tapfuma).

This role of protectors is disbelieved by the artists. For them, the salesmen are only
supernumerary in the game. Especially the following criticisms are expressed towards them: the
salesmen are blamed to cheat on the artists and to enrich themselves through corruption. According
to the artists, the salesmen charge higher prices than what they write on the invoice and divert the
difference directly to the own pocket. As a result, some artists try to be present at their stands all the
time in order to follow the conversation between the salesman and the customer. In Tengenenge,
this tendency was observed in the case of the reception of donations from customers such as
clothes, where the salesmen go through the goods and take what they want, leaving the remnants to
the artists.
Other points of critique were only expressed in Chapungu. First of all, the salesmen are
accused to lack capability to evaluate the work and give the sculptures the right price. Since they are
not artists, they understand little of the work behind the artwork. Second, the salesmen are blamed
to be lazy. While the artists are working, the salesmen and the other staff members such as the
gardener are lying around, waiting to receive the payment through the artists work while working as
little as possible. For the salesmen this is seen in the limitation on the direct interaction with a
present customer but the absence of initiative to attract further clientele. Third, the salesmen are
31
criticised to overstep their responsibilities and to overestimate their position in the hierarchy. While
the salesmen are employed by the owner of Chapungu the artists are independently attached to the
park and not under the authority of the salesmen but directly answerable to the owner of Chapungu.
However, the salesmen impose themselves as the bosses, trying to keep the artists under their
control through intimidation. This attitude comes from the fact that in both settings the salesmen are
dependent on the artists. The salesmens salaries are paid with the commission, therefore if the
artists do not sell, they do not receive an income. Through their manner of authority over the artists
they try to camouflage this dependency. The artists are well aware of this as expressed by Mandla:

They are actually milking us, because without us, there are no sales, but they want to
overlook that. They want us to think that they are doing us a favour, which is the
oppositethey need us more than we need them, but they pretend that they are the owners
on Chapungu (Mandla)

From this statement as well as from the general discourse in Chapungu and in Tengenenge
we can see that the artists perceive themselves as being in the social hierarchy of the gallery on top
of the salesmen. They realise that even though they are not handling the money and that they can be
cheated by the salesmen, they are the producers of the sculptures, of valuable goods that create the
income for all the other staff involved in the gallery including the salesmen. According to the attitude
of the salesmen, the artists are at their mercy in order to remain part of the gallery. However, the
artists perceive the opposite: in Tengenenge salesmen were in the past chased away by the artists.
Since the artists are in superior number they can force a salesman to leave the community if they
decide to. The artists are not as dependent on the place as perceived by the salesmen: We are just
the same. We are even better because we are the producers. If we stay home, we can still sell our
pieces (Mandla)15.

This shows that hierarchies are not always clearly fixed but perceived differently by the
involved actors. According to Magee and Galinsky, power and status are two central factors of
hierarchical differentiation. While power is more related to a persons control over valued resources,
status is reflected in the respect the person receives from others (Magee & Galinsky 2008). This
distinction is central for the different hierarchical understanding between the salesmen and the
artists. Power is on the side of the artists who are producing the sculptures that are gaining income.
On the other hand, status is claimed by the salesmen since they are employed, working under a
contract and being closer to the management, allowing them an income derivated from the sale of
15
However, both places benefit from a high reputation from the past and therefore at least some potential for
the visit of customers. To attract those clients elsewhere is not as easy apart for those artists who have already
an established, regular clientele.
32
sculptures. Therefore, since power and status is divided between the oppositional actors, both
highlight the importance of their attributes resulting in a different perception of the hierarchy.

In Tengenenge as well as in Chapungu, the relation between artists and salesmen is conflict-
ridden, however to a larger degree in Chapungu. Here the gap between artists and salesmen is much
deeper which is for example visible in the fact that they hardly mingle with each other, each group
cooking and eating separately while in Tengenenge artists and salesmen are often sitting together.
This closer relation is influenced by the fact that the majority of the salesmen in Tengenenge are
themselves artist and share therefore a similar reality. Even more important is the different level of
justification for the salesmen in both settings. In Chapungu five salesmen are in charge for the 20
artists, while in Tengenenge only three salesmen work for a hundred artists. In both cases, the artists
pay commission but in Chapungu, this deduction is only used to pay the salaries of the salesmen and
the other staff while in Tengenenge a smaller subtraction is made, covering not only the salaries of
the staff, but as well the mining commission and miners. This differences results in a higher
disinclination towards the salesmen in Chapungu. In both cases, the salesmen might not be needed
as such, but it is a form of division of labour, creating work in a context of high unemployment.

2.2.3 Customers
Without having employment as art professors, functionaries or designers, artists in
development countries are dependent on the free market as much as the Western artists; however
they face the additional challenge that their clients are reduced to foreign experts, tourists and
collectors with only a limited clientele within the respective country (Strter-Bender 1995).
Zimbabwean stone sculpture is known to attract a high diversity of customers. In the words of the
manager of Chapungu: we could accommodate the rich and the poor people, we could
accommodate everybody so we have people from all walks of life, from all parts of life they could
afford to buy a piece (Thomas)

The following four types of customers can be found, showing however great diversity within
each category:

Art collector
The artists recall that in the initial years most customers were art collectors. They knew
about the Zimbabwean stone sculpting through the promotion of McEwen, the organisation of
exhibitions abroad and the resulting art reviews. In the present days, those customers are seldom.
Different reasons can be found for that. They stop coming to Zimbabwe based on the economic and
political crisis and either stopped collecting Zimbabwean art or buy it from art dealers abroad.

33
Possible is as well that some lost the interest in this art since style and to some extend quality
changed or that this art form got out of fashion. To the artists, these are the favourite customers.
Since they buy individual pieces and not in bulk, the prices they offer are much higher than the ones
paid by art dealers.

Tourists
Tourism in Zimbabwe is a volatile field and those customers are the least reliable for the
artists. While around independence tourism was of little importance, in the 1990s, the tourist
industry was boosting. At that time, Chapungu and Tengenenge were frequently visited places and
tourists important customers. Data are hardly available, especially the ones older than ten years.
Since 2003, the tourism trend reflects clearly the happenings in the country16. This category includes
staff members of NGOs working in Zimbabwe and employees in embassies likewise, as well as their
friends and family who come for visit. These people decreased too, especially through the banishing
of certain NGOs from the country.
Even though they are by trend buying small pieces and only rarely export big ones, they are
important in order to spread the works and make connections allowing the organisation of
exhibitions abroad. Furthermore some who visited the country as tourist became attracted to the art
form to the extent of becoming art dealers and starting a business with the sculptures. This was the
case for two art dealers who replied to the questionnaire. This entrance into business is later often
felt in their business style since it is based on emotional attachment to the art and not exclusively on
rational motives, resulting in a less volatile clientele compared to those only attracted by profit.

Institutions
One other small category is formed by institutions and organisations who buy sculptures to
exhibit in their venues, most often big ones. This way, Zimbabwean sculptures can be found in
airports, public gardens, banks, insurance companies, or in non-profit organisation such as UN
organisation. In this last case, the sculptures are often donations. In the present worldwide economic
situation, these acquisitions of sculptures by institutions are rare and will therefore not be
elaborated further.

Art dealer
At present, due to the absence of individuals travelling to Zimbabwe, the most common
customers are foreign art dealers who buy or take the sculptures on consignment and resell them in
their galleries or over the internet. Therefore, the main focus lied on them.
16
According to Zimstat, the statistics of visitors from abroad is as following: 2003: 2,73M; 2004: 2,69M; 2005:
2,19M; 2006: 3,34M; 2007: 1,44M; 2008: 0,9M; 2009: 1,15M; 2012: 1,3M (Zimstat 2012)
34
 According to the research of Velthuis in art galleries in Amsterdam and New York art dealers
in contemporary art are trying to maintain a distinction between the commercial aspects of art and
the artistic creation as such. Therefore, they do not present themselves as merchants but rather as
promoters of artists, denying their commercial interest since art is not supposed to be taken as a
commodity but as a symbolic object. However, art dealers even though not in their discourse but in
their practices need to find a balance between both since they are on one hand part of the capitalist
world having to offer marketable items and attracting clients but are at the same time actors in a
cultural institution acting as gatekeeper for artists. Their galleries are designed like museums instead
of retail stores to hide the commercial aspects. In this field it is taboo for an art dealer to interfere in
the artists work and to ask him to create a certain style. If this is done, this is considered as an
intrusion in the integrity of an artist, just as much as the separation of the work from his author
(Velthuis 2005).
Art dealers are making a business out of art and need to achieve a certain profit in order to
earn their livelihood and to remain competitive in business. Nonetheless, the financial motivation
takes different shapes. The range of different art dealers is wide, leading from exploitative,
opportunistic acting art dealers who profit from the desperate situation artists are facing to art
dealers who support and promote the artists. In this variety of art dealers different motives are
pursued in their business.

Three motivations for business: passion, social support and profit

Three central motives can be observed behind their business: first, the passion for art and
the resulting marketing with high quality artwork. These art dealers focus on the uniqueness of art
and mainly buy art that offers something distinct. They are often intituled by the artists as the
traditional dealers. These dealers can distinguish between genuine art and mass-produced pieces
and emphasis on the need to promote the artists, organise exhibitions with excellent selections and
through that promote the art world as a whole. While in the early years, most art dealers were of this
type, now only a minority still follows this approach. This kind of art dealer is the closest to the one
described by Velthuis.
The respondents of the questionnaire belong to this type of art dealer. Their initial contact
with stone sculpting resulted either from years lived in Zimbabwe, the travel to Zimbabwe as tourists
or through the visit of a sculptures symposium. Most of them started business after 2000 and did
therefore not experience the Golden Years. In their selection, the artists name plays an important
role, combined with the look for specific style and quality. All those art dealers do choose the
sculptures themselves and do so between once a year and every second year. They sell their
sculptures over the internet, showing the high importance of this media in this art world. However,

35
four out of five exhibit the sculptures additionally in a proper gallery whereby two organise further
exhibitions in other venues. Often it is part of their official mission to promote this art and to offer
the artists access to the market. For that purpose, the sculptures are highlighted as being unique and
original and in those five examples hardly any sculpture is sold detached from the artists name. Most
also provide background information on the artist and one goes as far as to deliver a certificate of
authenticity for each sculpture. Some do also organise workshops with Zimbabwean artists in their
respective country, with the aim to give them more experience, to let them interact with local artists
and to offer them a chance to become internationally known, as well as to attract customers.

Many art dealers follow a social or developmental approach since they are aware that
through their business they offer a basis of survival to the artist. This can be seen in the support of
local development projects with the profit achieved from the sale of sculptures or in donations to the
artists. This motivation can be as well just part of a discourse to improve their selling or a strategy to
maintain their market. In certain cases it is surely well-intended but in other instance part of a
calculated business strategy.

Most art dealers described by the artists are centrally motivated by profit. These art dealers
increased with the popularity of the art and sometimes profit of the growing difficulties of the artists:

The dealers were coming; they saw that it was an opportunity to make big money. Here
they realised that they had the advantage of bargaining power because the artists were
starting to be desperate; with less tourism only the dealers were coming (Thomas).

These art dealers are often making business with mass-produced pieces that they acquire
cheaply but resell as unique and expensive pieces or engage in the business with counterfeits. The
artists perceive those dealers in the following way:

They want to eat themselves, they forget us. They come and take me like a tool of
production (Jim).

They don't want to pay the right amount, some of the art dealers are actually destroying,
because they take the artist for a ride. The artist is not important but they want the work. We
have dealers who want to take out of their pockets as little as they canbecause they are
going to make a big profit out of it (Tapfuma).

In fact, the artists often complain about exploitation and feel that the art dealers do not
promote them on purpose but prefer to keep them at the same level in order to maintain them in
the position of dependency, ensuring low prices. Furthermore artists evoke examples where art

36
dealers take sculptures on consignment but disappear and never pay back the sculptures. In other
situations, artists were insulted if they tried to negotiate better prices.
Especially those art dealers focusing on high profit diverge from the art dealers described by
Velthuis. First, art is commercialised in the sense that it is traded and marketed like other
commodities. This can mostly be seen in the way the products are sold over the internet, where
some articles are marketed as selling-off, a practice that would be taboo for the traditional art
dealers. Second, this category does not cherish the uniqueness of art, whereby in some examples
more than one exemplar of the same sculpture can be ordered. Third, the integrity of the artists is
offended through pushing him to the production of a certain style and by not advertising the
sculpture in the artists name. We could argue that this selling strategy regards the sculpture as crafts
rather than art, where the artists name is unimportant. However, even in these cases the sculptures
are sold as art under the label Shona sculptures and sold to similar prices like genuine art.

Perception according to different origins

The artists perceive the art dealers differently depending on their origin. While in general
they appreciate European and American art dealers, this is much less the case for African or Asian art
dealers. The most obvious difference is to be found on the readiness to pay higher prices and to
enter into negotiations. Africans are often blamed of lacking understanding for art, not seeing the
value of it. The few African art dealers resell in Europe or America and are known to try to pay the
minimum price based frequently on the argument that they as their brothers should receive a
discount.

Regarding the Asian customers, they are perceived very negatively. Asian dealers are new in
business and started to buy sculptures between 2005 and 2008. They are mainly Chinese and South
Korean but by the Zimbabwean usually just referred to as Chinese. The most often evocated aspect is
pricing. While Western art dealers give them space to negotiate, Asian art dealer dictate the price
they are willing to pay and move on to the next artist if the artist does not agree immediately. Those
prices are by trend extremely low: Their price is like buying bread, yet you are buying a piece of art
(Chenai). Most artists do not feel respected by the Asian art dealers: They respect the work that
they bought, but not the person that has made their work (Chenai). The antipathy against them and
the feeling of disrespect is often expressed very direct: That is the worst people I have ever seen,
the Asian art dealers. They don't even value... I don't know if they are valuing a human being or if
they value artI don't understand them (Thomas). Apart from feeling disrespected, the Asian
dealers are said to increase the commodification of art through their way of making business and

37
buying and selling for cheap, whereby the sacred aspect of art as something which is
incommensurable in monetary terms is left aside focusing on the artistic object as a commodity17.
Likewise in the questionnaire, European art dealers have a negative image of the Asian art
dealers:

Asian art dealers give the worst prices after other Zimbabweans themselves. They are
unethical dealers and they push artists who are down on their luck even lower. Generally
despicable people.

The Asian Art Dealers are a pure nightmare. They are exploiting the market and the
sculptors and contribute through their non-selective mass buying to the deterioration of the
reputation of Shona Sculpture.

In general, customers are in an unbalanced power relation compared to the Zimbabwean

artists from which particularly art dealers profit. This power seems however to be exercised
differently by the art dealers depending on their origin. This divergence could result from a different
business culture with a rougher style of negotiation or an approach to art, where the camouflage of
the commercial aspects and the uniqueness of artworks are of lower importance.

If we compare the customers coming to Tengenenge and Chapungu we find mostly the same.
However, art dealers in search for cheap pieces where high profits can be made are dominantly
represented in Tengenenge, were prices are by trend lower. Tengenenge has a more stable clientele
with many art dealers coming regularly and supporting sometimes the community as will be
elaborated later. Although hardly any close relation can be found between artists and customers, the
Tengenenge artists have a better relation to the customers. Based on my observation, this result
from a limited need of income and therefore the satisfaction with lower prices than is the case in
Chapungu where the artists face the expensive urban life. In this context customers are quicker
perceived as exploitative and artists complaining more about them.

In this particular art world, the power imbalance between the different actors are stronger
articulated than is the case in Western art worlds. With the sculptors being unable to meet their
customers in the latters country they are dependent of being visited by them, which is infringed by
the political and economic situation of Zimbabwe. Since this results in few customers, they can profit
of the high competition amongst artists and use their bargaining power. Just as much as the artists,
the salesmen are dependent on the customers and their willingness to pay. Only with the artists

17
The negative perception of Asians is widely spread in Zimbabwe and related to the policies which allows a
growing in-flow of Chinese such as through the possibility to indigenise an enterprise if belonging to 51% to
Chinese.
38
sculptures being sold they receive a salary, through which they are to a certain degree dependent on
the artists. This dependency they try however to conceal by presenting themselves as part of the
management and therefore as being above the artists. The dependency within this art world will be
more visible in the description of its interactions.

3. The artists within the art market

According to Becker the artist is in the centre of a network of cooperating people (Becker
1982:25). Therefore I focus on the artist within this art world and the art market in particular. To
begin with, I analyse the interactions within the art world and elaborate the position of the artists.
Thereupon the strategies the artists adopt depending on the success of these market interactions are
illustrated. These strategies are particular to this art world but required by the context as will be
shown last of all.

3.1 Forms of market interactions in the art world

An art world lives from the collective activities executed by a network of people. Central for
each art world are the interactions that contribute to its maintenance by assisting the artist in the
accomplishment and distribution of his work as much as activities that contribute to the recognition
of the artist. Central is therefore the selling of art combined with support for the artists. However,
this needs to be accompanied with forms of promotion, such as assisting in spreading awareness
about the art and underlining particular artists for them to get discovered on the art scene. This
promotion is important to maintain a rational behind the art world by delivering a justification on its
quality. Since the Zimbabwean artists cannot rely on state subventions they are dependent on the
interaction with customers and supporters to enable them a living with art and thereby sustaining
the art world as a whole. Support mechanisms for the Zimbabwean artists are rather weak with
vending being the most important interaction. Only through sales the sculptors can remain artists,
whereas in their absence they are forced to stop sculpting and to move into other fields. The artists
however face a high dependency on this predominantly foreign clientele and face a strong power
imbalance in the interaction. To compensate this and the general risky activity of artistic production,
they elaborate strategies to improve their sales, to respond best to their market segment and to
compensate if needed.

3.1.1 Selling: pricing and the artists selling strategies

If we look at the selling of artworks it is mainly a negotiation between producer and
consumer or between art dealer and end consumer. In this negotiation information about the
artwork and the artists are exchange but at heart of the discussion is the price. Selling is a social
39
interaction and its result, mainly visible in the setting of the price, depending on who the involved
actors are and what motive they pursue in purchasing art. The following will illustrate price setting
and the different meaning of prices in the Zimbabwean case which is a further example of the
unbalanced power within this art world.

Price setting: Art Worlds in General vs. the case of Zimbabwe

In classical economy, economists such as David Ricardo or Adam Smith agree that there is no
systematic explanation for the prices of rare and irreproducible goods like art. The production costs
do not lead directly to the price with dealers creating a high difference between cost and price. For
Ricardo, it is therefore not the quantity of labour resulting in the fixation of a price but rather the
wealth and the inclinations of the consumers that influence the price. He considers the supply of
artwork as fixed since the increase in demand for art does not necessarily change the supply but
leads to an increase of the price (Velthuis 2005). This theory does not apply to the Zimbabwean
context. Here, two forms of art supply need to be distinguished: first of all the sculptures from the
late first generation artists and the works of internationally known artists such as Dominic Benhura.
In this case, the changing demand does not change the supply but increases the price if we neglect
the existence of copycats. Through the copycats however, the supply of identical pieces increases
and with it the prices decrease. Second, the general offer grew steadily in the 1990s with many
artists entering into the field, leading to market saturation up to a level that prices decreased18.

In art in general, prices of artworks are influenced by the following: size and technique of the
artwork, price at which the artwork would have been sold to a museum19, age and place of residence
of the artist and to a minimal extend the characteristics of the gallery. Furthermore, prices are not
just related to who produces it but as well who consumes it (Velthuis 2005).

Compared to other contemporary art, Zimbabwean art is rather cheap. In this case study the
technique remains the same, so does not influence the value of the sculptures whereas the size does.
More important is the age and place of residence of the artist. First of all if we compare the prices to
sculptures made by Western artists we find huge differences. Contemporary stone sculptures
produced by artists from the West although similar in quality are sold at much higher prices. Here we
can observe an unlike valuation of art produced by artists from the developed world and the
developing world where the same effort is rewarded differently and the artists of the developing

18
This phenomenon of growing competition within a profitable field of artistic production up to a point of
market saturation is observed as well elsewhere such as in the case of Guatemalan artisans (see Scrase 2003)
19
In the first 20 years, Zimbabwean sculptures were exposed in museums, while nowadays the display in
galleries or public places (Botanic Gardens, Hotels, Airports) is dominant. Since the representation in museums
is considered as an indication of quality, this changed exhibition setting could have had a negative influence on
the price.
40
world having difficulties to be taken equal with their western fellows. Second, as well the place of
residence within the country influences the price; the more rural or marginalised in the high-density
area of the town the lower the price. Third, the age of an artist in terms of life experience plays a
role. Younger, less experienced artists are more willing to accept low prices.
Regarding the selling price in Zimbabwe, the prices are highly influenced by the
characteristics of the gallery. The more advertised a place in the past, the higher the price. More
important are the institutional mechanism and the size of the commission. In contemporary art in
general, artworks are exhibited in galleries who take 40-50% of commission upon selling (Velthuis
2005). In the Zimbabwean case the commission in Tengenenge lies at 35% and 50% in Chapungu and
is therefore comparable to Western galleries.
Since especially the 50% in Chapungu is considered as unfair, the artists try to circumvent the
selling within the gallery20. If the artists get a chance to discuss with a client, they explain the
situation about the commission. If he (the customer) feels he just wants to pay me moneyI would
just say go, and he gives me maybe his contact number and I will just get a gate pass from there.
Sometimes I don't get a gate pass; I just pick my piece and go (Kazana). Officially they are only
allowed to carry a piece outside with a gate pass. This is at least the case for the big pieces. Small
pieces are often simply smuggled outside the park, as described by Kazana. This strategy is chose
once in a while but not regularly for not attracting attention and in order to leave some benefit to
the employee of Chapungu since their salaries are paid with the commission: we don't do that
(every time), we allow everyone to have a feeling of the money and then we share. Of course we do
sometimes, we get outside, but sometimes the others they pay inside, so they (the salesmen) get
their moneys (Richard). If selling outside is impossible, deals are negotiated with the client where he
pays officially a small amount to the administration and adds something directly to the artist.
For the price setting of the Zimbabwean sculptures, according to the art dealers who
responded to the questionnaires, the most important definer of the price is the artist and his
reputation. This approach is shared by the salesmen, who consider the establishment of an artist on
the market, referring to the amount of exhibitions he has participated in, the years of work
experience and in how far his name is known to the customers. The second factor influencing pricing
for art dealers are quality and style, where uniqueness of the piece is essential to achieve better
prices. Likewise the salesmen evaluate the uniqueness of a piece with lacking singularity being
charged much less. Third, the size determines the price of a sculpture. The artists themselves often
criticise the fact that customers look too much at the size, neglecting the qualitative aspect behind.
This perception is not reflected in the responses of the questionnaire but can still be a common

20
This strategy of selling sculptures outside the gallery is difficult in Tengenenge due to the high social control
in the village setting.
41
practice. Essential for the initial pricing is as well the experience from the art business and the
knowledge of how expensive the artworks can be sold to the consumer21.
Pieces bought by art dealers vary strongly between purchase price and retail price22. In the
questionnaire, the least rise of prices reported lies between 51 and 100%. This particular art dealer
has been the longest in business and highlights the importance of promoting artists. Two other
dealers increase the prices for 200-400% while a third one adds more than 400%. A common practice
is to increase 51-100% for the famous artists where the pieces were initially expensive but then add
more than 400% for unknown artists. Therefore with the presence of pieces from famous artists,
sculptures from unknown sculptors are as well increased in price and value. This practice has been
reported by one of the art dealers and likewise been recognised by the artists themselves. These
examples of increase are modest. Having discussed the price difference of sculptures on sale over the
internet with the respective artist, the prices are increased between 14 and 50 times. This increase is
related to the need to cover transport costs and import-export taxes. Furthermore their business is
riskier than in other art worlds since the pieces are bought and shipped and not just taken on
consignment23.
Some of those art dealers offer particularly low prices, especially if they buy in bulk. In one
extreme case, an artist received 35$ for five sculptures of average 40cm, resulting in 7$ per
sculpture. Since this money was paid in Chapungu, the artist received 3.50$ for a sculptures due to
the commission. With the deduction of the cost of the production material (tools, raw stone and
transport from the mines) he is left roughly with 2.50$ per sculpture. Due to their limitations to
negotiate better prices adverse to the bargaining power of the customer and their desperate need
for cash, they develop strategies to handle those low prices. If a buyer offers too little, artists
frequently reduce the offer. In the above mentioned example, the artist was first offered 80$ for ten
sculptures. This offer was unacceptable, but since the artist was desperate for cash, he reduced his
offer to five sculptures. Although it was still a bad deal, he saved five sculptures to be sold to
another customer willing to pay a better price. Another strategy is a mixed form of production,
where apart from genuine and original sculptures that are time and work intensive, low-standard
sculptures are produced who require less effort. If artists are desperate for cash but a buyer offers
little, to sell the unique sculpture can be painful. Therefore he can offer the lower quality or smaller

21
The same aspects are influential to define the price of reselling. Just the characteristic of the stone is
valuated higher in this second price setting.
22
As elsewhere, the end prices increase with the number of middlemen, reducing the possible profit for the
producer. In this context, the presence of art dealers as intermediary decreases the price the artists themselves
receive.
23
In Western art worlds, artworks are usually not bought by the gallery owner but taken on consignment. If
after an exhibition a piece is not sold, it either goes back to the artist or stays part of the inventory of the
gallery, remaining the artists property (Velthuis 2005).
42
pieces, the so-called bread and butter24 that can be sold without much negotiation just to gain some
income.
Prices are therefore not just influenced by the price of production or demand and supply but
are constructed within a social interaction and dependent on who is involved in the price
negotiation. Furthermore, the meaning of the price differs amongst the actors.

Different meaning of prices

Prices are embedded in a web of meanings; where the impersonal, purely economic
reasoning is only one of them. While the pricing mechanism is often considered as a shared language
within an art world, the meaning behind those prices is varying amongst the different actors as well
as the outsiders of the art world. The value and therefore the price of artworks is not just related to
the work itself, but is constantly produced and reproduced by the different actors of the art world;
artists, intermediaries and audience and subject to the convention and cultural codes of the art
world (Velthuis 2005). In the Zimbabwean context few shared conventions can be found based on
the high variety of customers with their different approaches. The customers have a divers approach
to art and give it therefore a different value and price. As a result, pricing does not follow a rule but is
mostly influenced by the negotiation between artist (or salesman) and customer. In this art world the
price is by far not fixed but largely depends on who the customer is and how he profits of his
bargaining power. Not only the price as such depends on the interaction but as well the meaning
given to the price varies between the actors of the art world.

From the artists perspective: a question of survival

According to Velthuis, some artists consider the price of their artwork as the source of self-
esteem (Velthuis 2005). This is much less the case in Zimbabwe. The connection between self-esteem
and price was more present in the Golden Years, although less the price of a piece than the totally
earned money and the acquired goods were considered as a symbol of success. In the past years
however, the price became a question of survival. Often the price as such is not considered
important the only importance is to sell and to get at least some cash. The artists complain that the
present competition is pushing the prices down. If they refuse to sell to an offered price and try to
negotiate, the customer goes to the next artist: The artist has no choice nowadays. If you don't want
the price he (the customer) just goes to the next person (Mandla). Since many artists are offering
similar sculptures, the customer often take advantage of the resulting competition and achieve the
purchase at low price. Especially at month end, where bills need to be paid every price becomes

24
This Bread and Butter strategy was already chosen by some of the first generation artists, where for
example Bernard Takawira created small and comparable cheap sculptures next to his big, expensive ones.
43
acceptable. In fact, the artists hardly have a minimum price and are often in such a desperate
position that the price does not count as such:

Actually I will be happy with whatever they want, because all I need is to sellWhatever
pleases me is a fair price. I think whatever the customer wants, whatever he really wants it is
a fair price to me, because I rather let him take it, because I have the power, I have the
energy to do other things so for me the best part is to sell, whatever price the customer
really wants (Kazana).

At the same time, those art dealers who pay low prices are criticised by the artists. To them it
is a way of devaluating art and rendering it into a normal commodity. The low prices give them the
impression of greedy art dealers who just want to grab things for nothing (Chenai), paying only
peanuts for the artists effort. To them the prices offered for an artwork should not just reflect the
production cost but as well include the emotional value art offers. It is therefore expected, that the
art dealer should have the feelingIf he or she likes the piece very much, maybe he should pay
reasonable. (Bernard). Many artists have the impression, that art dealers were just buying art
without valuating itthey dont have no feeling, no soul (Tapfuma). In those cases the prices reflect
only the economic value dictated by the rational logic of the capitalist market but not the emotional
value expected by the artists.

The artists are aware that art dealers increase the prices considerably upon resell abroad. In
general, the artists understand the need for this rise since it has to cover the costs for export and
organising exhibitions and need to allow a living to the art dealers. However in some cases the price
difference reaches a level where it is perceived as unjust:

We are trying to climb a tree, somebody is pulling you down. So how can you go up there
whilst the others are trying to pull you down, they don't even want me to grow because if
you want your child to grow, you need to put more food on the table for him, to eat each and
every time. So once the artist hasn't got food on the table, you are killing me because I need
something healthy that builds my health for me to be safe (Salomon).

Nonetheless, even if the low prices are sometimes considered as unacceptable, the artists
have a highly fatalistic vision on the business and feel powerless:

You win or you lose in business (Jim).

Sometimes you lose. That is the game of art, it is a tough business (Tembo)

44
 The artists feel that they are in an imbalanced relations, whereby their only possibility to gain
an income is to adapt to the prices offered by the customers. Due to their situations, their
negotiating power is limited whereby the price loses its symbolic value but only becomes money for
the daily bread. Their position is especially weak based on the absence of trade unions or any
attempt to protect their interest collectively. Each artist tries to make ends meet individually which
increases the competition and renders them vulnerable opposite the art dealers pressure.

From the Salesmans perspective: An expression of promotion and own income

Looking at the perception of the salesmen, they represent the idea that the value of a
sculpture is created by the quality which is expressed in the form of a higher price. For them,
increasing the price of an object enhances the value behind the artwork. Continual valuating through
pricing has a long-term impact since it is a symbol for the name of the artist and therefore promotes
the artist to a higher level of recognition. The increase of prices and the refusal of sell-outs are
considered as central for the artists career. At the same time it needs to be acknowledged, that this
argumentation of the Zimbabwean salesmen is not just altruistic thinking to promote the artist, but
linked to the fact that the higher the price for a sculpture, the higher the commission and the higher
the income of the salesman himself.
One former salesman proposed another approach. He feels that keeping the prices low is a
better way of promotion than selling expensive since it helps those who are new and unknown to get
into art due to the fact that they might achieve some sales, resulting in increased motivation. A
business with expensive sculptures becomes the survival of the fittest, where only the well-
established with known names can survive. His approach can be compared to a development
perspective elaborated later on since sculptures should not only be produced by established artists,
but artistic production in its different quality, from art to craft, should offer income to people.

The perspective of the consumer: emotional value vs. the need for profit
Looking at the customer in the Zimbabwean context, the meaning of prices varies depending
on the motives to buy a sculpture. If the customer is a tourist his motivation derives from the interest
in art as well as the desire to purchase a souvenir and sometimes the wish to support local
production and the local community. In this situation the emotional value behind the sculpture is
high and increases the willingness to pay better prices. With the customer being an art dealer, this
emotional value is only marginal. The purchase of sculptures is part of a business which needs to be
profitable. The meaning of prices is therefore more rational since the prices offered to the artists
need to take into account the expenses used to purchase and export the sculptures as well as the
knowledge of what their own customers are willing to pay for the respective sculpture. This

45
calculated approach determined by the logic of the market can be completed with a social approach,
where either the price directly paid to the artist, the donations or the support of local projects should
contribute to development in Zimbabwe. With the art dealers, the social and therefore the emotional
value can be very limited with the motivation to achieve a high profit being dominant. For these art
dealers, the prices offered is often unrelated to the work itself, where the effort behind the artwork,
including the work of the miners, the transport and the artists own work are not taken into account.
The prices set reflect a commodification of art, where hardly the production costs are covered,
without taking into account the artistic creation as an incommensurable good. The valuation of the
object as an artwork with a special value is then only reflected in the retail prices.

Having seen that for the salesmen the price is a form of promotion while for the art dealer it
is a calculated mean to gain profit from his business, for the artist, the price as such is of little
importance in the situation he is in but most important is the possibility to sell. Therefore, they
elaborate different strategies to have access to customers and increase their chances to sell.
A first possibility is to enlarge the accessible clientele as much as possible through the
exhibition of the sculptures in various places, for example in Chapungu, the NGZ shop and in a gallery
at the airport road. However, only few artists are using this strategy. Due to the crisis many galleries
closed down since 2005. Furthermore, especially for the artists in Tengenenge who would have to
pay for the transport to the galleries in Harare and back, the practicalities around this strategy are
too expensive. Additionally this strategy needs time and extra-effort to monitor the sale. Some artists
who tried to exhibit in various galleries admit that they were not doing follow-ups.
Most artists therefore concentrate on the maintenance of the current customers by trying to
keep in contact with them. They realise that face to face interactions have a positive effect on their
sales: When you are present, people are more interested; when they see the real artists working.
You also boost your sales because you will be talking about your work (Mandla). Furthermore
keeping in touch with the customers gets enabled through phones with integrated internet facilities.
The artists communicate via SMS, e-mails or through Facebook and WhatsApp. The interaction with
the customers allows them to know when the respective client arrives and gives time to prepare
good quality work in the taste of this particular buyer. For the artists the use of these media to
communicate with customers is a form of boosting their business. They can publish pictures of their
sculptures on Facebook or send pictures directly via e-mail to regular dealers.
However, only a minority is in touch with their clientele. Since it is a question of cost, not all
of them have access to communication but can still profit indirectly due to the fact that for example
rumours of the arrival of a customer are spread quickly. The possibility to keep in contact with the
customers is as well impeded by some art dealers themselves who prefer to maintain a low profile
while avoiding communicating their name to the artists. Another factor hindering the interaction is
46
the fact that the negotiations are usually made between the customers and the salesmen, where the
latter sometimes withhold the details of the customers. This is a form of maintaining their control
and increases their position in the hierarchy as discussed before. Others either do not realise the
potential of the use of internet or admit that they find it hard to maintain contact with people in
distance. In general, the use of these tools could be ameliorated. Some do know how to use those
facilities but could use them more efficiently especially to find access to customers without using the
art dealers as intermediate since those are in business for profit and reduce therefore the possible
income for the artists.

It can therefore be said, that the different actors of the art world have their strategies to
interact and set prices within their marge de manoeuvre that helps them covering their need.
However, it can be noted, that the Zimbabwean artist have so far only developed individual
strategies with collective initiatives being absent and therefore further weakening their bargaining
power.

3.1.2 Promotion: providing a rationale

According to Becker, in an art world, promotion is an essential feature to provide the
rationale behind the produced artworks. Through different forms the quality of the art gets
emphasised and elucidated to interested potential customers (Becker 1982).
Central for the promotion of Zimbabwean art to achieve the fame it had in the past was a
couple of art reviews, especially in the 1980s. In 1987 the Zimbabwean sculptures were praised by
Wilkinson: "Shona sculpture is perhaps the most important art form to emerge from Africa in this
century" (Wilkinson 1987:80). An even bigger impact was made by a critique written by art critic
Michael Shepherd in 1988: Now that Henry Moore is dead, who is the greatest stone carver in the
world? In my experience there are three outstanding contenders ... and all three come from
Zimbabwe (Shepherd 1988). These reviews were essential for the Zimbabwean sculptors to become
famous and are still today frequently cited. Important were furthermore different publications,
especially books written by Celia Winter-Irving25 as much as articles of various journalists who visited
and wrote about the places. Furthermore, during the time of the Zimbabwean airline, articles about
sculpting appeared regularly in the airlines magazine Skyhost. With Winter-Irving having passed
away in 2009 and the grounding of the Air Zimbabwe, two major channels through which the
sculptures were promoted vanished.

25
Although being the former director of the NGZ, her contributions were particularly important for
Tengenenge, since a couple of books and article were written on this art community based on her close relation
to Blomefield and regular visits of the place.
47
 Moreover, in the past the sculptors used to be promoted through embassies, whereby they
created connections to their respective countries for the organisation of exhibitions or assisted in the
financing of publications. Additionally, embassies financed awards and competition amongst
sculptors. Having taken part and won prices allowed the Different understanding of promotion
artists to increase the interest of customers and detach between Salesmen and artists

themselves from the anonymous crowd of sculptors. These Salesmen understand promotion in the
initiatives of the embassies were however always sense of the Oxford dictionaries as The
action of promoting someone or
dependent on the ambassadors themselves and his something to a higher position or rank
priorities and are therefore volatile. or the fact of being so promoted
(Oxford dictionaries 2012). From their
A further way of promotion is the participation in point of view, promotion is possible
through the increase of value on the
workshops abroad, whereby this is considered as an sculptures for example through
opportunity to earn income as much as to get in contact ensuring high prices. Through this
valuation of the artwork, the artist is
with people and enlarge the clientele as well as to meet
pushed in his career.
other artists and exchange ideas with them. However, only
For the artists however, promotion is in
few manage after such an experience to keep in touch with fact more understood as a support to
those people and benefit of the newly created links. cover the daily needs such as food
assistance, payment of rent, sponsoring
Additionally, the participation in exhibitions abroad is
of raw stones and tools etc. This is
generally perceived as central for promotion and a door especially the case in Tengenenge,
where the promoter is perceived as a
opener to international buyers.
supporter, which shows for example
the following citation on art dealers:
In the two observed fields, Tengenenge and
They promoted Tengenenge a lot
Chapungu, promotion takes different shape. In Tengenenge about tools, clothes, food and
everything (Rukodzi). As promotion is
promotion was initially mainly stimulated by its founder
considered everything that helps them
Blomefield who travelled around in Europe to create to survive and to remain in business.
connections. Out of these emerged important exhibitions
such as in 1989 in the Beelden op de Berg Museum in Wageningen and in 1994 at the Africa Museum
in Bergen Dal (Winter-Irving 2001). These exhibitions contributed to the predominance of Dutch art
dealers in Tengenenge. As well Dominic Benhura as the present owner of the place tries to promote
Tengenenge through selling their sculptures in his proper studio and making his customer aware of
the existence of the art community. Furthermore he had advertised the place as a tourist attraction
in order to draw more visitors and potential clients to the place.
At present little promotion is made and the artists await promotion from the art dealers. The
management team however plans to increase the proper promotion by updating the existing
homepage or creating a new one and the creation of a Facebook account for the community as a
whole. Even though the ideas are present, the management lacks the initiative. Some of the

48
members who are themselves artists do have Facebook and e-mails for themselves and know
therefore how to use it but the step on how to enlarge the use and make it a benefit for the whole
community is still lacking. As well here we can observe the difficulties to progress from individual
strategies to collective ones.

Chapungu on the other hand played in the past a central role in the promotion of the artists
attached to the sculpture park as well as the art movement as a whole. It is part of the mission of
Chapungu to promote their artists: you need assistance or you need some depth to try to explore
yourself. We have the mandate; we have the capability to see that the person has got some
potential (Thomas).
The main promotion in Chapungu was made through the organisation of exhibitions abroad,
mainly in Botanic Gardens. These included in the 90s especially exhibitions in Germany (Frankfurt,
Dortmund, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg) and after 2000 in particular in the United States (Missouri,
Chicago, Utah, Arizona, Denver and Kansas). Part of the exhibitions was often the publication of
books and exhibition catalogues providing information to interested people. Through this publicity
Chapungu used to be a well frequented place in the heights of tourism. Those exhibitions are no
longer organised based on the lacking initiative of Chapungu itself as much as the present global
economic conditions, were funds for art are rare and exhibitions like these hardly sponsored.
At present hardly any promotion is done. Chapungu has a website which is however out of
date and the actual present artists in Chapungu not mentioned yet. According to the manager,
pictures of the sculptures are taken and sent to the regular clients. However, most of this needs to
happen out of the initiative of the artists who cannot rely on the management for promotion any
longer. In this context, the artists are mainly dependent on their own initiatives to improve their
chances to sell. The management lacks the capability to offer proper promotion and would demand
higher commission from the artists in order to do so. The artists could pressurise the management to
receive better promotion or organise the promotion themselves if they would collaborate amongst
each other. But in the present situation, most are focused to earn at least their daily bread and a
long-term strategy aiming at collective mobilisation to promote themselves and therefore increase
their sales is hard to pursue.

3.1.3 Support: maintaining the art world

In the contemporary art worlds long-term exchange between artists and art dealers is
common, which gives meaning to the transaction both engage in (Velthuis 2005). Through support
mechanisms artists can be assisted in additional ways to the direct purchase which allow them to
maintain their artistic production and to gain a living through art.

49
 The Zimbabwean institution to support the visual arts in the country is the National Arts
Council (NACZ). The NACZ is a regulatory, funding and promotion body that facilitates and enables
the activities of registered arts, cultural organizations and individual artists to improve their
livelihood. Since 2000 the NACZ is in charge of the Arts Development Fund to assist the artists in
accessing financial support (NACZ 2012). To be allocated money, the artists need to submit a project
proposal. However, due to missing funding, this does rarely happen and the artists complain about
lacking transparency in the procedure. At present, hardly any support for the artists is available. One
possible address for the artists is Dominic Benhura, who invites artists to work on his property where
they are given raw stone for free and are normally provided with lunch. Working there brings them in
contact with customers who come and visit Dominic in his studio.

Regarding support the situation varies considerably between Chapungu and Tengenenge.
Chapungu being a sculpture park in the urban area is perceived as a commercial gallery and no
support is offered to the represented artists. During the good times, the artists received support
from the gallery owner, for example assistance for the transport of raw stone or the possibility to get
loans without interest rate. From the customers however, the artists cannot expect support: When
they come here they give you the tools and charge you for the tools. And then they come with
clothes and food and want to exchange it with stones so I wouldn't call it support (Richard).

This situation is much different in Tengenenge, where the artists are used to receive
donations by the customers, in particularly art dealers. This support takes the shape of food
donations in the times of food shortages, second hand clothes (especially for the female artists) or
some extra money for particular artists. One artist explains that in the following way: It is because of
its history. They understand how artists are surviving here. They understand that life in Tengenenge
lies in their hands. So they are always there to support Tengenenge in terms of hunger (Mthabisa).
Through the donations like in Tengenenge the art dealers increase the sympathy amongst the artists.
Through this, the artists are more willing to give pieces at low prices because they are given the
impression of a friendship relation. However, artists and art dealer hardly enter into close relations.
As stated before, embassies offer important support in Tengenenge and are active in the
development of the art community. While the French embassy assisted in the installation of water
pipes and boreholes, the German embassy helped to install the electric facilities. However, since
nowadays the community lacks money, they cannot pay the electricity bill and without electricity the
borehole cannot be used but the water is instead withdrawn directly from the source.

This different approach suggest a divers perception of Chapungu and Tengenenge, where
Tengenenge as a whole is more considered as a developmental project with art dealers navigating
between a humanistic approach and the calculated maintenance of their market. The logic of the
50
market counts more in Chapungu, where art is only considered as part of a business by the art
dealers, whereas in Tengenenge, the cultural aspects of art and the art community as a whole is
valued.

3.2 The artists strategies as a response

In the Zimbabwean art world, the artists face a high dependency on the customers. Due to
the difficult economic situation within the country and based on the lacking interest for art amongst
the local elite, the art world is maintained by foreigners who have a high bargaining power because
of the oversupply of sculptures. However, even though the artists are in an imbalanced power
relation, they are not merely victims but can be considered as actors who are elaborating strategies
within their marge de manoeuvre. They analyse the market situation and the market demand and
adapt to it. According to Greffe, producing and distributing artistic goods is a risky field since it
implies the production of a new object without the certainty of its success. It is therefore impossible
to know if the costs of production and the needed income to earn a living can be recovered through
the sale. With the impossibility to predict the way an artistic good is received, strategies to
compensate this uncertainty are indispensable (Greffe 2002). Those strategies are not necessarily
directed to the creation of artistic goods but include other livelihood strategies beyond artistic
productions. The combination of those activities is essential for the survival of the artist as such and
therefore for the maintenance of the art world.
The Zimbabwean sculptors are well aware of their production risks not only due to the
general risks within the art field but linked also to the instability they face in Zimbabwe. To
compensate those risks, different strategies on how to produce and sell their art are undertaken, but
also plans to compensate sculpting if the strategies directed towards art as such are not anymore
sufficient.

3.2.1 Creating and producing strategies as an artist

Regarding the artistic production of the Zimbabwean sculptors three different production
forms can be distinguished, each trying to respond to a particular market niche within the art world.
Each artist tries to figure out the most effective production form for himself. The following forms can
be distinguished:

Focus on individuality of each piece

With this strategy, the artists goal is to create something different and unique with each piece. Art is
considered as a process and a form of developing mind and skills. For many artists it is a question of
pride to be innovative and creative. This was the strongest expressed by Bernard:

51
If you are a man enough...somebody with logic you
The artists perception of art
should be somebody who is creative, you should have
Art as a process of development:
your own thing, something like your own style that can
- Art is life, it is a journey. Art is like a razor that
stand for your name. sharpens your mind (Jim)
- An artist is someone who moves on, who
Here we can talk about the individual doesnt stand or stay at one place (Tapfuma)

production as a work ethic. However positive and
negative aspects are involved in this form of
production. It is considered as a long-term strategy and
the only possibility to survive at present decently from
artistic production. In order to be successful as an
artist, the sculptors are aware that they need to
distinguish themselves from the crowd and offer
something eminent. In Salomons words:
Art as a proof of originality, creativity and
individuality:
- Art, you just do it ones and there is
uniqueness, creativity, originality and so forth
(Chenai)
- In art, you can see it is coming from the
inside. Something inside of him (the artist) is
burningit needs to have its own identity
(Dominic)

Art is just like writing a bookyou don't repeat the words that you have used in another
book. Once you do that, you can't be marketable. Your books are always in the shelves. My
policy is just to think of doing something very unique and something new.

It is believed that even in the difficult situation of today artist following this policy can make
themselves a name: If you are an artist you can always make a living from. What is required from us
in order to be underlined, lets just think different, come up with new things, create new pieces
(Dominic). This is not only considered as central for the artist himself but as well for the continual
success of the whole stone sculpting movement. This was realised by artists, salesmen and art
dealers who complain about increasing repetition and lacking individuality. However, having an
individual style and not concentrating directly on the demand but creating and experimenting
without knowing what customers might think is risky especially in a fragile economy like in Zimbabwe
where other safety nets are hardly available. If producing art is related to a survival question, real
creativity and innovation in art is under pressure. Following the individual style is furthermore more
demanding for an artist and not possible for all those involved in artistic productions. Being
innovative is more time-consuming than reproducing pre-existing ideas. However, many artists get
discouraged by this extra-effort to create individual pieces since this endeavour does not always pay
much better than a pre-existing sculpture.

52
Mass-production and specialisation on a given shape
This form is considered as being historically
new, having started in the 90s when the economic
situation became more difficult and the competition
between the artists increased. Amongst the first
generation artists, reproducing a piece was taboo: My
father (Nicholas Mukomberanwa) would tell you, you
never repeat a piece. That would never happen. You
would never repeat a piece, never. It means a new
piece every time (Chenai). While at the beginning of
Craft is perceived by the artists as following:
Lacking link to the artist
- You dont care who did it, you just love the
piece of the elephant or the bird, you dont
care who did it because everyone can just do
it (Mandla)
A form of mass-production where a piece is
repeated and lacks uniqueness
- Craft is whereby you have to produce it
many times (Chenai)

this trend still a lot of money could be made, with the

increased offer those artists focusing on this form of production dropped out of business first.
We can distinguish two forms of this specialisation on particular sculptures. Either the figures
are created as a response to an order by an art dealer or are a specialisation on a marketable shape.
This form of production is a commonly chosen risk reduction strategy in artistic fields by focusing on
what has previously been known as successful (see Greffe 2002). The motivation to choose this form
has three aspects: first, it allows the participation of less talented artists lacking creativity to
participate in artistic productions. The second reason is the financial motivation: People are trying
to see what can sell and they continue doing that. If he sells a piece today, if he sells a torso today,
tomorrow he is going to make another torso because he thinks he is going to sell it the next day
(Thomas). It is therefore a short-term strategy directed to the perceived current taste of the
customers. Also the acceptance of orders is related to the need for income, where an artist uses the
opportunity to create sculptures with the guarantee to have a buyer for them, although they are
aware that those do not pay well. Third, mass-productions are pushed by certain art dealers who
pressurise artists towards this form of production since it corresponds to their particular market
segment:

If an art dealer bought a beggar here in Zimbabwe and goes there and found that in an
exhibition the beggar has been sold, the next thing he will do is going back to the artist, can
you please make me 10 beggars and if you are going to repeat it, they charge the price
they want, not the price of the artist (Chenai).

The artists feel under pressure to accept the orders. This is related to their understanding of
what an order is. Some artists understand it as an authoritative command or instruction" (Oxford
Dictionaries 2012) which they cannot reject. This was expressed in the following: Like myself I am

53
not interested in repeating one and the same stuff. But unfortunately with these guys who want
these orders, I have to" (Taurai).

Mass-production is only considered as positive by most artists if it is directed to an order

since then the artists has a direct purchaser for his work: I dont see (that mass-production) is
wrong, as long as someone is requesting it. It is good for the artist to do, he benefit from that,
because he makes (what) someone requested (Itai). Apart from that it is perceived as a form to earn
an income and therefore of survival especially in the context of Tengenenge. With orders this effect
can be multiplied since often artists receive orders that are too big for them to handle which leads to
the employment of an assistant for this particular order.

However, often artists express criticisms towards mass-production. On one hand it is hard
and time-consuming work with little reward, with those pieces being bought at low prices. The value
of the pieces is decreased due to the fact that they are not unique. It not only decreases the value of
the sculpture itself but has further implications on the artist. It diminishes with the time the artistic
capabilities since the artist is stuck on one motive and not experimenting to develop his skills further
apart from perfecting what he is already doing26. Following the orders without going beyond and
exploring other things reduces the independence of an artist who will as a result be bond to a
particular art dealer and be answerable to him:

It stops the artist of doing what he feels he wants to do because he is working on an order
and because he has an order from that person, he works basically for that person, for that
dealer and for sure he wont make a lot of profit (Tapfuma)

Mass-producing is described as having a negative impact on an artists further success and

career. First it reduces the future demand on his pieces by delivering too much of one type at the
same time without having anything else to offer. Through the accumulation of the same piece artists
feel that the market gets flooded with their work being afterwards no longer in demand. This form is
only considered as beneficial in the short-run: It is good that he can get a bit of money at that time
but it is not good for his career (Mthabisa) or expressed stronger: that also destroys yourself. You
do that but in the future you have ruined yourself (Thomas). While focusing on one type, artists
deny themselves the access to promotion for example to participate in exhibitions abroad or to be
invited for workshops, remaining on the same level without further opportunities to develop.

26
The trend of de-skilling after the specialisation on marketable products has been observed in other artisanal
fields such as shown in a study on broidery in India. With the commodification of a specific style, the craftsmen
concentrate on those specific forms without trying to explore other areas leading to an increasing lack of
variety (Scrase 2003).
54
Copying
Just as mass-producing, copying is considered as a new form of production, existing from the
mid-90s onwards. Copying was out of question in the beginning of the art movement: Those people
they were gentlemen, even if they were working at the same place, they never copied each other.
Everyone was doing his own style...It is just recently and people started copying each other
(Chenai).
Copies are either made on order or based on the artists own decision. We should clearly
distinguish two forms of copying: on one hand, the copying of a shape and style where the artists
create a smaller or bigger version of a piece seen somewhere else. This form is depreciated but a few
positive aspects are considered. First, copying gives an income to people who could not succeed
otherwise in art; those who have the technical skills but not the creativity to develop their own form
and styles. Second, the artists whose works are copied take it sometimes as a compliment and proof
of their talent and the quality of their work. If it would not be a nice, marketable sculpture, it would
not be copied. Indirectly being copied is therefore a form of recognition. At the same time, it asks
them to be creative and to differentiate constantly. However, even looking at it from that
perspective, copycats are considered as stupid since they are unable to think and create their own.
The other form of copying refers to the illegal act of copying another artists piece, engraving
the signature of the legitimate artist and selling it under his name. Most likely pieces of high value
are copied with the artist being well-known and therefore expensive such as Dominic Benhura or late
artists from the first generation like Bernard Matemera, Nicholas Mukomberanwa or Henry
Munyaradzi. The artists who are given the order are equipped with a picture of the wanted sculpture
and asked to reproduce it a given number of times. This kind is highly criticized by the artists since it
is considered as an opportunistic behaviour by stealing somebody elses money: If you copy
somebodies workyou make money through somebodies workyou are taking advantage of him
(the real artist). Instead of him selling his product then you, you are now making it through his work
(Itai). It is referred to as destroying the original artist and gaining an income through his success.
However, the artists realise that the copying has not only implications for the legitimate artist but as
well on the whole stone sculpture movement. Through the existence of copies, the customer are
made insecure since they lose trust and unless they are well experienced in the field they cannot
anymore distinguish between the original and the copy.

In general we can therefore observe a trend from the creation of unique art to mass-
production and copying. It is a switch from a long-term strategy to a short-term strategy as a
response to the increased difficulties and the volatility of the market.

55
 Typology of artists based on the form of production
Artists chose one form of production or combine them according to their needs. Based on
these three forms of production, a typology of four types of artists can be distinguished resulting
from the observation of common combinations:

1. Real Artists
Real artists highlight the importance to create individual pieces showing their own, personal
style. They concentrate only on the first form of production. To them, mass-production, work on
orders or copying is a taboo. It is not considered as honourable to repeat a piece but instead
continual experimentation is required. If a customer is interested in their work, he has to choose
from what the artist has created without having the possibility to demand a specific creation from
the artist. Those artists who focus on the originality and creativity in each piece are only a handful
and include artists like Dominic Benhura, Arthur Fata, Joseph Muzondo, Eddie Masaya, Stanford
Derere, Joe Mutasa and Agnes Nyanhongo amongst others. Some of them, such as Benhura and
Muzondo achieve with their sculptures prices comparable to Western artists while others have to be
satisfied with less since their names are less known. However, based on their higher quality all the
sculptures from the artists of this type achieve better prices than other pieces. This type of sculptures
is especially purchased by art collectors, willing to pay more. Most of them have started before the
90s and were therefore not attracted by the financial reward but by passion on art. This can be seen
in the case of Mandla:

Biography Mandla (Born 1953 in Bulawayo)

Already in primary school, Mandla showed his talent in art through drawing charts for his teachers. In his free time he produced clay
sculptures and wire toys. During two years he was following art courses in the Mzilikazi Art and Craft Centre in the neighbourhood of
the Mzilikazi Township. There, the superintendent became interested in his talent and encouraged him to join the Bulawayo School
of Arts, where he studied during three years. He was taught different disciplines, including ceramic, pot decoration, painting, wood
carving, screen painting and sand writing. To him, already in his childhood it was all about artI never experienced anything else
than art.

After finishing school in 1973 he worked as a decorator of display windows and became in1974 graphic designer for the NGZ. There
he created posters for the exhibitions, advert boards and after a course on photography reports about the on-going exhibitions. In the
gallery he met the first generation sculptors: I used to see some of the artists and used to admire them, like Nicholas
Mukomberanwa, Henry Munyaradzi and so on. As a result he started sculpting in 1978 in his spare time, mainly after working hours
in the workshop school of the NGZ. Since he received a monthly salary, he was free to experiment in art. In this time his paintings
were exhibited at various points in the Delta Gallery and he took part in the annual shows organised in the NGZ, usually in all
different categories (photography, prints, textiles and sculptures) resulting in awards. He was working in the NGZ until 1997 but had
the growing wish to be independent and concentrate on sculpture. In 1997 he joined Chapungu and became the liaison officer artist:
My reference was to guide the young and upcoming artists. He did this for three years and quit the job because I want to be free
but remained working at Chapungu as an independent artist. From 2000 he got the chance to participate in overseas exhibitions,
starting with the World Expo in Hannover followed by exhibitions in the States and the UK. Till today he works in Chapungu.

Mandla does not work for orders. If somebody has a very special idea on a sculpture he would like, he can consider it, but mostly
my work is just creative. His rejection is related to two aspects: First he would not enjoy doing an order and not use his creativity and
ideas to create something new and second, he is aware that orders do not pay well. He says that unless it is a special order, I would
refuse

56
Examples of Mandlas work:

Image 5: Feeding the young Image 6: Disagreeing to agree

(Mandla) Image 4: Feeding the birds (Mandla)
(Mandla)

2. Intermediate artists
As intermediate artists I consider those who combine the production of genuine art with the
work on orders for customers27. Occasionally some of those artists copy other sculptures, however
just by taking over ideas and not to the extent of creating fakes. They perceive themselves clearly as
artists and highlight their creative activity while the time and effort spent on orders is often
neglected in their discourse. These orders can be big pieces as well as small ones, craft-like mass-
produced pieces. The term intermediate artist does not infer anything about the skills of an artist.
Some of them are talented sculptors and produce creative and original artworks. However, due to
the situation and the difficulties to sustain their families with art, they look for different
opportunities within their field and find a resort in the additional acceptance of orders. For them,
taking on orders is considered as a must due to financial straits. The initial motivation of those artists
lies in the passion for art but they have to combine the love of artistic creation with the need to take
it as a profession, allowing them an income.
Most of these artists have started in the Golden Years and could at least for a short time
profit of the financial possibilities and the chance to experiment with artistic expression in a time
where the market was less shaped by competition.

27
This combination of genuine art and mass-produced pieces of low artistic quality is a common practice for
famous artists in southern countries and chosen as an integral part to earn a livelihood. However, collectors of
real art show a high importance on this distinction whereby as a consequence those artists have a more
difficult stand with art collectors than the individual artists (Strter-Bender 1995).
57
 Biography Richard (Born 1979 in Harare)

After finishing school, Richards uncle Luke, a famous artist offered to introduce him to sculpture. Initially, he was not
interested and aimed for a course in management but since this resulted in being impossible, he started 1997 at the age of 18
to work together with his uncle. After initial difficulties linked to the hard work, his motivation increased after tasting the
money from selling his first pieces that he created after four months of assisting his uncle. His motivation received another
boost when his uncle travelled to the United States to participate in an exhibition and he realised that with this work you can
travel and you can mix with a lot of people. What he felt as well helpful for the start was the encouragement he received from
the customers.

After having worked three years at the side of his uncle, he was invited by Chapungu to start working as an independent artist.
Richard had a lot of respect of this step since he felt too young for it: I was afraid of starting new things, starting new
sculptures putting new ideas because of lack of knowledge. However, he could establish himself as an independent artist and
participated in a workshop in the Netherlands in 2003 where he could earn enough money to smoothen the difficulties of the
following years and exhibit his artworks in the US and in Switzerland. To supplement his income, Richard used to sell airtime. In
2008 he stopped sculpting due to hardship and started a business with maize meal and cattle. He bought maize from affluent
villages and changed it against cattle in villages that suffered the consequences of the drought and lacked maize. The cattle he
slaughtered and sold the meet in town since the butcheries were not offering meat anymore.

Richard creates individual pieces and works occasionally on orders, mainly torsos and families. However he considers orders as
something negative since they contribute to an artist getting stuck and retard him to develop his creativity further. He does not
like to produce torsos but just because they make money. I want some money, I want to survive. I am forced to. But for me it
is not nice because when there is no order I dont do torsos at all. I dont, because I dont like it.

Examples of Richards work:

Image 7:
8: Torso 1 (Richard) Image 7: Hidden Beauty (Richard) Image 9: Torso 2 (Richard)

3. Craftsmen
Craftsmen specialise their production on marketable motives, either on order by art dealers
or on sculptures where they experienced previously success from buyers. Their products are often to
be found on the tourist market, including market stalls in South Africa. Those artists clearly talk about
themselves as artists. However, in their understanding as well, an artist is defined by the creativity
and originality of his work. With their forms of production they do not fit this description. Looking at
58
 the various definitions of art and craft from the field, their work can be more described as craft and
they themselves as craftsmen or specialists. Some of them were at one point of their artistic career
trying to focus on the creation of genuine art. Either based on a lack of talent or the realisation that
in their case they could achieve a higher income focusing on those mass-produced pieces, they
decided to shift their production.
Many of them were introduced into art by their relatives and encouraged to join them based
on the argument that artistic production offered easier income compared to other occupation such
as farm labour. The introduction to art happens as a rational choice and often the passion for art
emerged through the process of working.

Biography Rukodzi (Born 1970)

After schooling Rukodzi worked as a farm labourer and was employed as a dry operator in Mazowe from 1992 onwards. His
brother Leonard started as well as a farm labourer and was doing wood carving in his spare time, making little animals or
creating chairs. In 1993 he joined Tengenenge and shifted from wood to stone. In 1998 Leonard motivated Rukodzi to join
Tengenenge because as a sculptor more money for less work could be made compared to the work as a dry operator. Rukodzi is
specialised for the production of owls and elephants and is convinced that if he works hard and produces a lot of sculptures he
will earn more money. The production of owls and elephants is on one hand directed to orders from clients while others are
made uncoupled on an order but to ensure to have them on stock. One order can contain as much as 50 pieces but in average he
sells about 30 sculptures monthly, however due to their size and their style he receives for one piece between 5 and 10$. To
compensate the money earned through sculpting he divides his time between sculpting and farming to sustain his family. In the
case that his income from his owls and elephants are not sufficient he accepts to work for the farmers of the area or assists his
brother in the production of his pieces since he fabricates bigger and more profitable ones.

Examples of Rukodzis work:

Image 11: Three owls (Rukodzi) Image 12: Fish (Rukodzi) Image 10: Owls (Rukodzi)

59
 4. Copycats
Copycats28 are artists concentrating on the illegal reproduction of sculptures and producing
counterfeit. Obviously, they do not talk in public about this activity; therefore I did not have the
chance to talk to one of them. According to the other artists, copycats are in general younger artists
or former assistants of the artists whose sculptures they copy. Based on their time spent as an
assistant, they know best how to imitate the style of their former master. The motivation is certainly
a financial one, however not necessarily in the form of greed to accumulate wealth on behalf of
someone else but as a strategy to earn an income in an economically difficult situation.
In general, copycats are acknowledged as skilful since mostly their copies are almost identical
to the original but criticized for their lack of patience to invest in their own style and putting instead
the priority on a fast financial profit (Mushohwe 2011).

With those four strategies, the artists move between the two contradictory logics of the art
market: the logic of art and the logic of the market. The logic of art is based on qualitative arguments
and centres around the uncompromising creation of symbolic, imaginative or meaningful goods,
whose value cannot be measured, let alone in the monetary metric of the market (Velthuis
2005:24). The logic of the market on the other hand is led by a quantitative logic with the
commodification and commensuration of human activity as its main aspects (Velthuis 2005).
The artists navigate between these two logics and are well aware of the distinctions. Their
way of producing is flexibly inspired by one or the other form. In their discourse they clearly aim to
follow the logic of art by talking about the importance of creating individual, genuine pieces with
their own style, carrying their message. While in reality, the economic situation presents this logic as
a luxury and demands them to produce for the logic of the market, which implies the reproducing of
marketable pieces and the following of orders. The argument to have to accommodate the logic of
the market due to the hardship can either be real or used in order to compensate the lacking talent,
where the artist is in fact not able to do the real symbolic and imaginative pieces but is limited to the
production of pre-defined forms.
For many of them, at times, the artistic production is not sufficient to earn a living. Therefore
other activities need to complement art in order to make ends meet and continue to work as artists
instead of abandoning art totally.

28
While the typology is created by myself, the category and the designation copycats is taken over from the
artists themselves.
60
3.2.2 General livelihood strategy
Apart from the strategies chosen to improve their sales and to have access to customers with
their particular form of production, the artists develop strategies to compensate art. These strategies
consist predominantly of a combination of artistic with non-artistic activities in order to earn a living.
This strategic combination of activities to maintain, secure and improve the quality of life can be
compared to a livelihood strategy.
The livelihood theory approach has emerged in the late 1970s among geographers,
anthropologists and sociologists through analysis at the micro-level in developing countries. As
livelihoods are understood first of all tangible assets such as food stores and cash savings, natural
resources like trees, land and livestock, tools and other resources. Secondly, as well intangible assets
such as capabilities, the possibility for making claims for food, work and assistance, access to
materials, information and employment as well as a social network are important. Those different
livelihood assets are used in order to earn a living. These livelihoods are embedded and influenced by
its social, economic and political context. Institutions, policies, as well as markets and social norms
can either strengthen the access to new livelihoods or represent an obstacle to develop additional or
even weakening existing ones (De Haas 2010, IRP & UNDP 2010). In the Zimbabwean context, the
original activity of artist is impeded by the governments policies such as the farm evictions and the
resulting withdrawal of customers. Moreover the opportunity to have access to new livelihoods is
hindered through the politics and the economic crisis.
Central to the livelihood approach is the argument that poor people are not merely poor,
passive victims but rational actors that use the resources available to them in order to improve their
living conditions (Ellis 2007). In this approach the peoples agency is highlighted. This agency29 can be
discovered amongst the artists in their way of adapting and reacting to the market and is expressed
in their capabilities to develop strategies to produce art for a demand and to compensate the lack of
it.
One of the most important livelihood strategies is the diversification of livelihoods, where
varied activities and social support capabilities are combined in order to improve the standard of
living. Most artists diversify their livelihood as suited best to the individual. Based on my
observations, this diversification is mainly based on a combination of four different strategies:

1. Investing and selling assets: Artists know by experience that in art the income is
unpredictable and months without sales are possible and increasingly common. At the same
time compared to other income opportunities through the sale of one sculpture sometimes a

29
Agency refers to the ability of people to create meaning and to adapt according to this meaning.
Furthermore it is the ability of self-definition as opposed to being defined by others and characterizes peoples
capability to influence a process or a state of affairs (Bhattacharyya 1995).
61
 considerable sum can be achieved, allowing investment. The most often mentioned forms of
investment are cars, cattle and houses. Especially the latter is considered as important linked
to the rising rents since it allows taking away the pressure of paying rents during harder
times. However, investment after having made sales can be difficult since often artists have
accumulated debt that need to be paid back, reducing the available amount for investment.
In hard times those investment especially household assets like DVD players, phones, fridges
or furniture are sold. The selling of assets is especially common in the urban area where the
necessity of cash is more urgent due to the fact that many artists have to pay bills for rent,
water, electricity, school fees etc. In Tengenenge on the other hand most of these expenses
apart from school fees are inexistent which results in much less pressure to sell assets.

2. Borrowing money and negotiating: When artists face shortages of cash, they try to borrow
money from others. Therefore already the sale amongst fellow sculptors is considered as
positive since it brings money into their network. However, borrowing money has the dark
side of augmenting the debt and hindering further investment as seen above. Therefore
many artists try to negotiate around the imminent payment of bills like agreeing with the
landlord on a longer deadline to pay the rent or to pay step by step as soon as some money
gets earned.

3. Receiving financial support from family members: Few artists have members of their
extended family who are employed and to whom the artists can turn to when they are in
need. However, in a country with more than 80% unemployment most live from hand to
mouth and cannot afford to sustain the extended family and even those who are employed
have often too small salaries.

4. Combining different forms of income: One strategy is to focus increasingly on agriculture in

order to be self-sustaining. This is especially the case in Tengenenge, where in the Golden
Years hardly anyone was farming and only with the growing difficulties between 2000 and
2008 the artists started to produce their own food.
In both settings the acceptance of piece jobs which can provide them with at least a
dollar per day are common. In Tengenenge, this is mainly in the form of farm labour on
nearby farm or short employment on the close Chinese chrome mine. In town instead, this
can be gardening jobs, the work on construction places or as taxi drivers for some days.
A common strategy in Zimbabwe and in Africa in general is the involvement in
informal trade. The artists however complain of high competition. Whenever a profitable

62
 niche is explored, other people swarm into the business until it gets too crowded to be
profitable. Furthermore rentable business is often dependent on available investment.
Commonly chosen strategies are the selling of cell phone credits or the keeping and selling of
poultry. Often people are involved in trading between South Africa and Zimbabwe like one
artist who sells imported Tupperware and glassware from South Africa. Others who have
managed to buy a car offer their service as drivers to earn extra income.

These strategies chosen by the artists are required by the circumstances the artists live in. In
the context of a developing country, art is a luxury and only few artists in those countries can live
from it. Therefore particular strategies need to be adopted to adapt artistic production to the
precarious living conditions. While in most art worlds of the developed countries, the artists can rely
on better security nets and express their creativity with more freedom or at least have employment
that allows the financing of the artistic production. The pressure on artists in developing countries is
much higher, resulting in the need to adjust to the market demand. This need to adapt to the market
shapes the art world and makes it impossible for the artists to follow common conventions of art as
will be elaborated in the following chapter.

3.3 The artists strategies as a particularity of this art world

As seen in chapter 1, the Zimbabwean sculptures were on high demand in the 1980s and 90s.
This success led to an increased commercialisation, with more art dealers entering into business,
attracted by the possibility of profit. At the same time this commercialisation drew in more people
with the desire to use art for social ascension through the accumulation of wealth. This new market
situation was impacted from 2000 onwards by the situation, the economic and political crisis of the
country. The resulted constraints led to a further inflow of sculptors but less in search for profit than
for a mean of survival due to the absence of other income opportunities.
As mentioned before, we observe a change of motive to enter into art. While for the first
generation, art was a passion where genuine art needed to be produced, in the present generation
art is a way to earn a living which led to a change of artistic production. These modifications are less
linked to generational differences than to the changing circumstances with a decreased marge de
manoeuvre for the artists and an increased dependency on the customers and their particular
demand.
In the absence of state subventions for art and the lack of other income option within the
actual economic situation of the country, the artists need to adapt tothe market and produce for the
demand, which leads to the mass-production of marketable pieces and the fabrication of copies. This
shift of production forms contradicts however to the general conventions and norms in art. To

63
elaborate this, I will first give an insight into the theoretical concept behind those conventions and
then look in how far they are realistic in the Zimbabwean context.

3.3.1 Conventions in art

According to the conventions of art in general, artworks are supposed to be unique and
therefore existing in one exemplar only, original, with nothing being like them and authentic,
showing proves of the artist behind it such as the signature (Karpik 2010). With this ideal form,
reproducing or copying is infringing the norms of art. The philosopher Walter Benjamin criticises the
reproduction of artworks as the destruction of its main essence, the aura. This aura consists of three
main aspects: first, the genuineness of a piece of art, which is not reproducible; second, the unique
existence in one singular place (Das Hier und Jetzt (Benjamin 1980:475)); and third, the historical
testimony of an object, which becomes affected through the presence of reproductions. While art is
unique and defined through its continuity, reproductions are repeatable and volatile (Benjamin
1980).
A similar approach takes Karpik who considers the art market as a market of singular,
incommensurable products. While with the evolution of the market economy all goods became
commercialised, some exceptions remained less obvious to be considered as commodities. Karpik
draws a distinction between commodities which are generalized equivalences and singularities,
referring to goods and services that are uncommon, unique, and singular. These singularities are
defined by their qualities, where price competition is of much lower importance than quality
competition with the consumer searching for what he considers as good and right, depending on
his taste. Karpik distinguishes furthermore two types of singularities: the originality model and the
personalized model with artworks correspond to the originality model, suffering an irremediable loss
through its reproduction, losing its status as art (Karpik 2010).
The uniqueness of artworks is therefore a central norm in art and needed to maintain the
status of singularity. Through mass-production artworks become a commodity and turn into a
generalized equivalent. Where art is still considered as something sacred, through the reproduction it
reaches a profane status comparable to any other consumer good, leading to a massive decrease in
value associated with the artwork and therefore a decay of price. In Man Rays words, this
secularization is expressed in the following: To create is divine, to reproduce is human (McClean &
Schubert 2002:17)

In the same way copying artworks is considered as a violation of its integrity and tried to
prevent by a copyright, which refers to the protection from the act of intellectual theft. An artwork
can only be protected if the work is part of a recognised artistic category, original itself and produced
by the author himself who added some form of creative expression. In most cases, the aesthetic
64
criterion is not under question. However, the application of copyright gets criticised following the
stand, that ideas are based on pre-existing ones and that it is in the nature of art to nurture from
existing visual sources with copyright regulating artistic activities unfairly. Copyright is justified on
two different grounds: first, as encouraging the cultural production and therefore benefitting the
society since the authors of artistic products profit of a property right on their ideas. Second,
copyright is perceived in an individual term, protecting the author from theft and ensuring him the
profit over his work (McClean & Schubert 2002).
In general, plagiarism in art creates strong reactions. According to Becker, this result from the
fact, that it is not only an artists property which is stolen and its means of income endangered, but
mainly since the artwork is the basis of reputation (Becker 1982). It is not just the reputation of the
artist himself, but of the art form in general.

Those demanding a strict respect of these conventions of art follow an elitist discourse,
mainly shared by art historians and other experts of art. For them, mass-producing and copying other
sculptures is perceived as a form of devaluation since it contravenes against creative and innovative
impulse and neglects the identifying features of art such as originality and uniqueness (Chipangura
2004). From this elitist perspective, the trigger of this mass-production and copying is seen in the
commercialisation, where the artist orientates his production towards the market. It is criticised that
these market forces encourage repetition and imitation and decrease therefore experimentation,
leading to the repetition of marketable products instead of development and evolution (Sultan
1992). This perspective has a tendency to look at art as a creation instead of art as an activity.
Therefore, what counts most is the product itself and with it its quality in the sense of its uniqueness,
originality and creativity. From this perspective, the other activities surrounding art are of much
lower importance. This approach, where the pureness of art is the essence, disregards the
socioeconomic facts at stake for the artists. The value of an artistic good might be higher if it is a
unique piece, but not every artist is in the position to dedicate himself to this exclusive creation. The
possibility to live up to these norms of art depends on the capabilities of the artist himself, as much
as on the circumstances he lives in.

3.3.2 Conventions of art in the Zimbabwean reality

As seen in Chapter three regarding the producing strategies of the Zimbabwean sculptors,
since the end of the 1990s, mass-production and copying increased. The rise of mass-production is
on one hand based on the artists strategy to compensate the insecurity of the market and the
general instability in Zimbabwe through the reproduction of marketable goods instead of creating
something new, where the response of the customer is completely unknown. At the same time it is a
strategy for less talented artists, unable to create unique pieces to earn an income through artistic
65
production. Furthermore it is a form of production pushed by certain art dealers with the artists
being dependent on them and therefore unable to reject their demands.
A similar trend can be observed regarding copying with an increased presence of counterfeits
in the past years30. In theory, the artists work is protected by the Copyright and Neighbouring Act
under which it is an offence to copy or reproduce an artistic work. As an artwork it understands
anything including graphics, photography, sculptures, painting, and collage, irrespective of the artistic
quality. The author of an artwork, meaning the producer of the original artwork reserves the right for
any reproduction or changes on his product (Mushohwe 2011). However, most artists are unaware of
their rights and even though they realise the wrong others are doing by copying them, they do not
have the possibility to claim their rights. Furthermore, the Copyright and Neighbouring Act does not
offer a sufficient legal structure to protect the artists whose artworks remain therefore an easy prey
for fellow artists, foreign buyers and gallery owners (Monda 2011).

As a result, to follow the conventions of art mentioned above is a challenge within this
particular art world. This is mainly based on the economic conditions those artists face. Those who
choose to mass-produce or copy regardless of their artistic talent do so out of necessity in order to
earn enough income. The others who choose this form of production due to their lacking talent to
produce unique art refuge to these creations because of lacking options for other income
opportunities. Furthermore, in a failed state like Zimbabwe31, the elaboration of a legal framework
that guarantees artists the protection of their copyright is idealistic since this is as well a challenge in
countries with a stable rule of law.
The artists themselves are aware that these forms of production contradicts those
conventions but they realise that the new forms of productions open up market niches for differently
skilled people. Many artists realise that although they disagree with these creations, they offer
income to people and play therefore a big importance for the individual as well as for the nation as
income opportunities. This is for example expressed by Dominic Benhura in an interview with the
Nordisk Institute:

Some industries are actually going down, our economies are going down and these people,
rather than robbing or doing whatever, they are into what maybe I would call them curio
stuff, which are more like decorative stuff, which maybe collectors wouldn't buy, or are not

30
The most famous case of such a violation dates from 2007 where Dominic Benhura brought a Zimbabwean
gallery owner to court for having illegally copied and sold his sculptures under his name. The accused was
proved guilty but only charged 50 US$. With this minimal form of recompense, the legal barrier to copy others
is very low and producing counterfeits a rentable business.
31
In the Failed State Index Zimbabwe was rated in the top ranks in the past 4 years: 2008:Rank 3; 2009: Rank 2;
2010: Rank 4; 2011: Rank 6 (Foreign Policy 2012)
66
 museum quality. But certainly there is a market for it and I am happy that some people are
really trying to earn an honest living, through that feeding their families (Benhura 2002).

In the context of developing countries like Zimbabwe, the convention of original art is flexible
and in constant negotiation. It is less the quality of artwork or a clear distinction between art and
craft that counts but more important is the artistic production as a whole and the impact it can have
on peoples lives. The artistic production is a form to earn a living and as such considered as a
contribution to development. Sculpting offers (directly and indirectly) income to a considerable
amount of people. Being part of an art world, sculpting is accompanied by other activities within
different economic fields that support as much as profit from this art. This account first of all to the
tourist sector since the customer are staying in hotels, eating at restaurants and using public
transport or hiring cars. Second, the transport industry benefits from the export of sculptures
through the packing and shipping to the destination. Furthermore in Zimbabwe stone sculpting was
part of different social projects such as the Chitungwiza Art and Craft Centre, where the National Arts
Council with the support of the UNDP created an art community in the high-density area of
Chitungwiza with the aim to create occupation for unemployed youth. In other instances we can
observe a repercussion of success of some sculptors such as in the case of Dominic Benhura, who
repeatedly donated money and goods to schools and other social institutions.
Therefore, in Zimbabwe, stone sculpting in the form of creating art as much as craft
contributes to certain extend to development. This developmental approach on art is stressed if we
look at it as a creative industry where artistic production is created in a network of people who earn
a living from participating in it. In Barrowclough & Wrights words, creative industries are industries
that have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent with a potential for wealth and job
creation through the generation and the exploitation of intellectual property (Barrowclough &
Wright 2008:4). These industries32 are created by arts, culture, business and technology, including
therefore the creation, production and distribution of goods and services. This can include the visual
and performing arts, books or as well technological areas (film and music) as much as service
orientated fields like architecture. Creativity in this context is considered as new ideas used to create
original artworks and cultural products as well as functional creations, scientific inventions and
technological innovation. Based on this creativity, assets are produced that can generate jobs and
through that income, resulting in trade, economic growth and development but also as promoting
social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development (UNDP & UNCTAD 2008). However, in

32
In 2005, creative goods and services represented 3.4% of the total world trade, reaching 424.4$ billion.
Creative industries can therefore contribute to economic growth and is a possibility to expand on in developing
countries through the nurturing of the existing creative capabilities. Especially in Africa, the creative potential is
underutilized with creative products representing less than 1% of the world exports due to domestic policy
weakness as much as global systemic biases (UNDP & UNCTAD 2008).
67
order for developing countries to really benefit of their creative industries they are in need of an
adequate policy framework. Due to the lacking comparative advantages creative industries flourish
only if supported by an optimal environment (Barrowclough & Kozul-Wright 2008).
Zimbabwean stone sculptors take part in a creative industry but the resulting economic value
is little compared to the film or movie industry where a broader network of people is involved and
the possibility to earn money through royalties exists. Furthermore, the policies supporting stone
sculpting are lacking since the inflow of the needed customers are hampered by the existing political
and economic situation. Therefore, based on the actual circumstances in Zimbabwe, stone sculptors
cannot benefit to the fullest of the potential of the creative industry they engage in and possibilities
to expand exist. Nevertheless, a given number of artists can earn to a variable degree a living from
different forms of artistic production although they are dependent on the international market with
its inequalities. This situation however makes it impossible to adopt conventions of art, but requires
the production for market demands. Only those few real artists who became famous such as
Dominic Benhura can respect those conventions, while for most, art is a survival strategy, requiring a
flexible production between art and craft.

Conclusion
Zimbabwean stone sculpting is a contemporary art form, going back to the inputs of foreign
promoters and reaching success in the 1980s and 90s. In this time sculpting was a mean for
improvement of the social status through financial success and at the same time resulting in
sculptures finding recognition in the contemporary art market. The quick success led to the inflow of
people trying themselves as artists in search of social ascension as well as new customers,
particularly art dealers looking for profit.
This new market constellation within this art world was impacted by the deterioration of the
political and economic situation in Zimbabwe, leading to growing competition amongst people who
tried to survive through artistic productions.
This caused advantages for the few remaining customers since they found their power in the
bargaining strengthened. While tourists and art collectors withdrew from the market, it became
dominated by art dealers, who take advantage of the power imbalance on the international market
in search for profit. In order to remain active as artists and produce sculptures, the artists are
dependent on customers who buy their sculptures or who deliver them other forms of support.
Furthermore they are in need for promotion which raise them from the crowd of artists and help
them to find market access in their own respect. However, in the past years, important forms of
promotion vanished and a new clientele entered the market. This change contributed to a shift from
art as a symbolic good to art as a mere commodity.
68
 In most Western countries artists choose artistic productions even tough being aware that
money is hard to be earned in this field. In Zimbabwe however, art is a form specifically chosen to
earn income. While at the beginning it was a mean to accumulate wealth, it turned to a mere
strategy of survival where other income opportunities were lacking. Stone sculpting is however a
field of tension where everyone tries to take advantages from the production of sculptures. On the
local level, the salesmen benefit from the artists since their salaries are deduced from the sales of
sculptures. Therefore, they are dependent on the artists production and try to ensure their income
through control over the artists. Most advantaged are the art dealers who can make high profits due
to their bargaining power in view of the competition amongst artists. This situation, where customers
are few and prices are low, requires for the artists to develop strategies to survive while nourishing
salesmen and art dealer.
The artists proof agency by analysing their situation and reacting to it as best as their
position allows. On one hand they shifted the form of production to more marketable sculptures in
the form of mass-produced, requested pieces, taking often the form of craft-like sculptures as well as
increasing copies of artworks from other artists. On the other hand, the artists embraced strategies
to smoothen the hardship of the art market by adopting different forms of livelihood strategies.
These strategies are central for them to remain in business and through it sustain this art world.
However with their strategies, the artists focus on their own survival and develop exclusively
individual strategies in order to improve their position within the competition amongst artists. This is
as well an expression of their short-term strategy focussing on the immediate survival. So far,
collective strategies which would be the most effective to improve their agency in opposite of the
customers and strengthen their position are absent. These strategies however are hard to pursue
due to the desperate situation most artists are in.
The different strategies chosen by the artists are needed to respond to the challenges
imposed by the artistic production in the volatile context of a developing country. The present
economic hardship they face in the country and the imbalanced power relation on the international
market demands the artists to follow the logic of the market where art is a commodity, determined
by a perceived demand. The exclusive logic of art, required from an elitist perspective which would
demand the uncompromising creation of unique art would be a luxury; impossible for most artists to
follow. Therefore, common conventions in art such as the prohibition of reproduction and copies,
allowing only unique and innovative art are idealistic in the context of a developing country like
Zimbabwe. In this context a living needs to be made from artistic production, allowing all sorts of
expression in parallel, from high quality art to craft for the tourist market in order to make ends
meet. This art world where different actors are involved can as well be compared to a creative

69
industry. Based on the creativity of the individual artist, a whole network of people from the local to
the global context can benefit.

About the future development of the art movement, most artists are optimistic. The difficulty
to survive with art is not seen in the quality of the art as such but only in the situation. Therefore
they expect that as soon as the political situation changes, the customers will come back and the
Zimbabwean sculptures experience a revival. Since already once they achieved fame with their art,
they can re-establish their reputation, especially since these difficult times are sometimes considered
as a screening process, where the commercially motivated artists drop out with the real artists being
strengthened at the end.
In my opinion, this revival will not be achieved so easily. For a long-term success, there is a
need for clearly separated marketing strategies and channels for art and craft, since mixing them
deteriorates the image of the art. More important, the artists have to adopt collective strategies,
which would diminish the vulnerability they face on the market since at present the fact that each of
them tries to makes ends meet focusing on oneself makes them easy prey for the art dealers to play
them off against each other. Additionally, the artists require assistance in order to learn how to
promote themselves and get directly in touch with their customers, avoiding intermediaries. Some
have access to modern communication and the know-how to use it, but are in need of training to use
them more efficiently. With the possibility to use modern communication effectively, they can
increase their marge de manoeuvre and better cope with the power imbalance in the market. For
those however, who do not have access to communication, survival in art will be increasingly difficult
with them being pushed further towards low-profit production, degraded by the market from artists
to mere producers of artistic goods, where art dealers give them orders for marketable goods or
copies resulting in fabric like productions.

70
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Annex
1. Table 1: Overview on the history from 1923-2010
Country History
1923 1965: Zimbabwe as self-
governing British colony under the
name Southern Rhodesia
1965: Unilateral Declaration of
Independence under the name
Rhodesia
1923-
1980
1965 1979: Rhodesia under the
Independence struggle
1980- 1980: Independence of Zimbabwe
2000 1980-1999 First Phase of Independence publications and exhibitions
2000- 2000 Land Reform
2010
2000 2008 The path to hyperinflation After 2002 slight improvement, But:
2008 Elections and breakout of political Worst year in business
violence
- Hyperinflation
- Food Shortage
2009 Introduction of US dollar
- Stabilisation of economy
Sculpture Movement
Influence of the Mission Schools
50s and 60s: artistic works in the Mission schools
Influence of Frank McEwen and the National Gallery
1957: Inauguration of the National Gallery,
foundation of the Workshop School
1962-1972: Exhibitions in Museums in London, New
York & Paris
1969: Creation of Vukutu
1973: Departure of Frank McEwen
Joram Mariga
1958: Forms his workshop in Nyanga
1962: Influences McEwen to focus on stone
sculptures in his workshop
Tengenenge
1966: Foundation of Tengenenge
Chapungu
1970: start as a small gallery in Harare
1985: Formation of Chapungu Sculpture Park
Golden Years of the stone sculptures resulting from
- Possibility to achieve a high living standard
through stone sculpting
- Increase of artists attracted by financial gain,
growing competition
- Increased commercialisation
Begin of decay of the art business, led to the drop out
of dealers
- Dealers could profit at least initially from the
valueless Zim$ and buy sculptures for peanuts
- Decreased value of the sculptures
- After an increase of artists due to lacking other
opportunities drop out of artists after 2005
- Lack of customers because of insecurity
- Suffering from the general economic situation
- Increase in living cost as well as increase in price
for sculptures
- Impact on the possibility to make profit in the
business with Zimbabwean stone sculptures
- Decrease of demand
74
 2. Map of Zimbabwe

Tengenenge Art Community

Chapungu Sculpture Park

Image 13: Map of Zimbabwe (http://www.ezilon.com/maps/africa/zimbabwe-road-maps.html)

75
3. List of interviewees
- Anesu, 23rd February 2012, Tengenenge
- Oliver, 29th January 2012, Tengenenge
- Tapfuma, 3rd February 2012, Tengenenge
24th February 2012, Tengenenge
13th April 2012, Tengenenge
- John, 20th March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Bernard, 1st February 2012, Tengenenge
- Taurai, 21st February 2012, Tengenenge
- Thomas, 5th April 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Tafara, 2nd February 2012, Tengenenge
- Dominic, 24th January 2012, at his home in Athlon, Harare
- Eddie, 24th January 2012, at Dominic Studios
- Takawira, 22nd February 2012, Tengenenge
- Jim, 24th February 2012, Tengenenge
- Munyaradzi, 10th February 2012, Tengenenge (Translated by Fungai)
- Rukodzi, 7th February 2012, Tengenenge
- Thulani, 28th February 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Tembo, 15th March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Tatenda, 5th February 2012, Tengenenge
- Chenai, 11th April 2012, in her office in the National Gallery, Harare
- Richard Chamutsa, 2nd March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Mthabisa, 22nd February 2012, Tengenenge
- Fungai, 31st January 2012, Tengenenge
21st February 2012, Tengenenge
13th April 2012, Tengenenge
- Itai, 16th April 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Salomon, 16th March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Kazana, 6th March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Mandla, 13th March 2012, Chapungu Sculpture Park
- Kumbirai, 9th February 2012, Tengenenge
- Group Diskussion: Mambo, Jim, Mbangura, 13th April 2012, Tengenenge.
- Group Diskussion: Thulani, Tembo, Richard, Mandla; 16th April 2012, in the Chapungu
Sculpture Park.

76
 4. Questionnaire for art dealers
This questionnaire will be evaluated for my Masters thesis. The goal of the thesis is to evaluate the
evolution of stone sculpting in Zimbabwe and how the Zimbabwean sculptors manage to create
connections to art dealers and with it access to the international art market. It should give a picture
on how the life of the artists and their art changed with the growing commercialisation.
This questionnaire will be analysed by myself and treated confidentially. No answers will be handed
out to a third person and the results will be included anonymously in the final thesis.

First Part: Zimbabwean stone sculpture

1.) How did you become familiar with Zimbabwean stone sculpture?
Visit in Zimbabwe Through friends/business partner
Visit of an exposition abroad Other:

2.) Since when are you buying and selling sculptures? Have you had any interruption in your
business since the beginning? Why?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

3.) Do you only deal with Zimbabwean Stone sculptures?

yes
no, I buy and sell as well :

____________________________________________________________________________

4.) Where do you buy your sculptures?

Tengenenge
Chapungu Park Dominic Studios
Gallery at the Airport Road Others:_____________________________
Chitungwiza Art Centre

5.) What is your motivation to buy from these placeses?

77
 Price Preference of resident artist
Practical reasons
Style Market demand
Other:
__________________________________________________________________________________

6.) How do you purchase the sculptures?

In person The agent is a foreigner
Through an agent Through another wholesaler
The agent is a local Zimbabwean Other:_____________________________

7.) How often do you buy sculptures?

less than once a year twice a year
once a year more than twice a year

8.) How much do you purchase at once?

1 crate 8-10 crates
2-4 crates more than 10 crates
5-7 crates

9.) Through which company do you export the sculptures?

__________________________________________________________________

10.) Where do you display/ sell your sculptures?

On a website: ____________________________________________________________________
In the own gallery: ________________________________________________________________
To other art dealers:_______________________________________________________________
Private collectors
Others: _________________________________________________________________________
11.) How do you define the prices?
11a) Upon buying?
Criterias such as:
stone style
quality size

78
 artist _______________________________
_______________________________
Other:
________________________
11b.) Upon selling?
Criterias such as:
stone
quality Other: -
style ________________________
size _______________________________
artist _______________________________

11c.) By trend, how much % higher are your prices upon selling?
10-50% 251-300%
51-100% 301-350%
101-150% 351-400%
151-200% more than 400%
201-250%

12.) Do you organise as well workshops with Zimbabwean artists?

yes
if yes, where?_______________________________________________
no

13.) What is your motivation to organise workshops?

_________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

14.) Since you are in business, in how far could you see changes in the lives of the artists you are
working with? How have their lives from your perspective- changed since the beginning,
through the best periods up to the present days?
____________________________________________________________________________

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 ____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

15.) In how far has the market changed in the past years? How did the inflation and later on the
dollarization influence your business? What about the entrance of Asian Art Dealers into the
art market?
____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________
Second Part: Personal Information
1.) Age
20- 30 51 -60
31- 40 61 70
41 50 70+

2.) Education:_______________________________________________________________________
3.) Country of origin:_________________________________________________________________
4.) Country of residence:______________________________________________________________
5.) Annual Revenue:
Below 10,000USD
10,000 20,000 USD
21,000 - 40,000 USD
41,000 60,000 USD
61,000 80,000 USD
81,000 100,000 USD
above 100,000 USD

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