The Arts of Africa

The Ndzundza Ndebele are an Nguni people who originated in South Africa in the areas of present day Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern provinces, formerly called the Eastern and Northern Transvaal. King Musi, a great diplomat, lead his people to settle among the Tswana and Pedi, intermarry and pursue cultural exchange. It is believed that early Ndebele house structural format was developed through their “co-existance] with the neighboring Sotho-Tswana,” (Rich, 1995, p. 174), and similarly that Ndebele house-painting strategies were adopted from a “Pedi original,” (James and van Vuuren, 1998, p. 66). Ensuing family battles caused one group of Ndebele to go farther north into Zimbabwe, thus creating the Southern and the Northern Ndebele (Powell and Lewis, 1995). Of the groups who stayed in South Africa, the Manala and the Ndzundza, it is the latter, who have developed the abstract house painting schema, and who are recognized globally as the Ndebele of South Africa (van Vuuren, 1994). The Ndebele were large land holders and fierce warriors who were able to defend their lands against encroaching Boer farmers. Autumn 1883, brought intense war between the Boers (armies of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republiek) and the Ndzundza under Chief Nyabela. Both Boer and Ndebele traditional stories report how the Ndebele valiantly fought for five years and finally held out in the famous Caverns of Mapoch for over eight months before starvation and lack of fresh water brought them out of their enclave.

The sculpture art of Yohannes Teleb combines colorful abstract paint aplication with abstract shaped alibaster, limestone and other stone and natural materials.

Ethiopian painting has made a smooth transition, stylistically and aesthetically, from the religious to the secular. The canvasses are rich in color and alive with movement and crowds, sometimes extraordinary numbers of people, who engage the eye of the viewer with their eyes — even when glancing right or left. It is one of the stylistic hallmarks of Ethiopian painting, the rendering of eyes. The twentieth-century secular painting tradition is also an extraordinary visual record of Amharic history and culture, as is quickly apparent by simply leafing through the pages of this book. Those who read German will be further rewarded by the copious, informative notes on each of the 120 plates of reproduction. The works are from several German and other European museum collections and a few private collections.

African Artists are featured here!