Bernard Matemera

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Bernard Matemera (born January 14, 1946 in Guruve , † March 4, 2002 in Tengenenge ) was a Zimbabwean sculptor .

biography

PC - 7300 - 0014, Matemere Bernard, Eagle, 1973.jpg

Bernard Matemera was a founding member of the artist village Tengenenge and a close friend of its initiator Tom Blomefield , who discovered him in 1966. He was considered to be a kind of "overfather" of the community and supported the next generation of artists with the proceeds from the sale of his sculptures . Interrupted by trips to Yugoslavia, England and the Netherlands, he spent his entire working life in Tengenenge and was the artistic director of the community for many years.

Matemera's breakthrough came relatively late. His grotesque sculptures were considered difficult to sell and met with rejection even from the knowledgeable director of the National Gallery of Harare , Frank McEwen. In the 1980s, Matemera finally received national and international honors. He won first prize in the prestigious New Delhi Triennale in 1986 , his work has been exhibited worldwide and some of it has been incorporated into the permanent collections of galleries and museums. One of his main works, Man Changing into a Rhino, is now standing at the entrance to the Harare National Gallery.

Bernard Matemera was married and had nine children.

style

Bernard Matemera was a major exponent of the first generation of modern sculptors in Zimbabwe. His uncompromising and powerful sculptures , very African and sometimes grotesque in their metaphors , seem difficult to access to some, but are downright irritatingly emotional and filled with a deep sense of pathos . His main themes were: animals, ghosts, people, creatures and the ever-present metamorphosis between them.

Bernard Matemera said a rough stone was like a banana; the end result is inside the stone, and all he has to do is remove the outer shell. He often saw his works in dreams. Every person has an animal, a 'Mutupo', that is connected to them and that they are neither allowed to kill nor eat. The famous sculpture 'Mutupo' ("The man who ate his totem") shows a person who has eaten such sacred or forbidden food and is now transformed into this animal.

Bernard Matemera is named among the best stone sculptors today, his works can be found in public and private collections around the world.

Exhibitions (selection)

  • 1968: Museum of Modern Art; New York / USA
  • 1970: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
  • 1985: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan
  • 1986: Irving Sculpture Gallery, Sydney
  • 1990: Musée National des Arts Africains et Occaniens, Paris; and
  • Millesgarden Museum, Stockholm
  • 1991: “With a brush and chisel. Contemporary African Art ”, Völkerkundemuseum, Frankfurt
  • 1992: Zimbabwe Pavilion, Expo 92, Seville
  • 1994: “Modern African Art. Stone sculptor from Zimbabwe ”, Palmengarten, Frankfurt
  • 1998: Botanical Garden, Hamburg
  • 2000: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London)

swell

  • Ben Joosten: Lexicon: Sculptors from Zimbabwe. The first generation , Dodeward, Netherlands; ISBN 90-806629-1-7 , (English)
  • Contemporary Master Sculptors of Zimbabwe . Ruwa Zimbabwe 2007; ISBN 978-0-7974-3527-8 , (English)
  • Oliver Sultan: Life in Stone. Zimbabwean Sculpture. Birth of a Contemporary Art Form , Harare 1999; ISBN 1-77909-023-4 , (English)
  • Anthony and Laura Ponter: Spirits in Stone: The New Face of African Art , Sebastopol / California 1992, (English)
  • Jean Kennedy: New Currents, Ancient Rivers. Contemporary African Artists in a Generation of Change , Washington DC 1992 (English)
  • Celia Winter-Irving: Tengenenge - Art, Sculpture and Paintings , (English)
  • Celia Winter-Irving: Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe. Context, Content and Form , Harare 1991, (English)
  • Eckart Rohde, Helmut Rohde: Inspired stones. Sculptures from Zimbabwe, Hamburg 1998 (German)
  • Eberhard Schnake: Spirits in Stone. Stone sculptures from Zimbabwe , Münster 2003 (German)

Web links

Commons : Bernard Matemera  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Matemera, Bernard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Zimbabwean sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Guruve
DATE OF DEATH March 4, 2002
Place of death Tengenenge