Makonde sculpture, old and modern, represents an artistic tradition which evolved in response to the historical and economic forces affecting the Makonde people throughout the twentieth century, especially after the 1930s. It is a story which unfolds in reverse chronology from the contemporary internationally known modern Makonde sculpture to its historical and cultural antecedents about which less has been written or is known. This exhibition in Paris embraces all aspects of the Makonde story. Of the six individual essays, one deals specifically with modern Makonde sculpture: that by Elisabeth Grohs, "Art Makonde contemporain = Arte Makonde contemporânea," (pp. 144-157). Grohs avers that the evolution of what we recognize as modern Makonde sculpture dates to the 1930s when the first exhibition was held at Centro Cultural dos Novos in Mozambique. However, it was in Tanzania, where many Mozambique Makonde had emigrated in search for work, that interest in their sculpture as a commodity arose. The Indian merchant Peera was instrumental in encouraging this development. Using the hard wood mpingo (Dalbergia Melanoxylon), Manguli Istiwawo, Pajume Allale, Roberto Jacobs, and others carved in what has become known as the "tree of life" or ujamaa style. The "shetani" style originated with Samaki, but was quickly imitated and soon became a popular and successful commodity in the markets of Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. Following independence in Mozambique in 1975, official recoginition on the part of the government has further encouraged this modern tradition of sculpture.

The catalog was reviewed by Eric Lehuard and Raoul Lehuard in Arts d'Afrique noire (Arnouville) no. 73: 49-50, printemps 1990. Exhibition reviewed by Myfanwy Van de Velde, "MakondĂ© art, traditional and modern," Le Courrier (Brussels) no. 119: 94-96, janvier-fèvrier 1990; by Emmanuel De Roux, "Les malentendus de l'art africain," Le Monde (Paris), November 1, 1989; by Jacques Binet, "Art moderne, art ancien: trois expositions à Paris," Afrique contemporaine (Paris) no. 153: 82-88, janvier 1990.

Coote defends the choice of Makonde sculpture on exhibit at Oxford's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which came under attack by Eddie Chambers (see above); he challenges Chambers' notions about equating black art with art by people who happen to be black. It is limiting, Coote argues, to restrict our view of "African art" only to religious and spiritually significant art and to modern art by academically trained artists. Makonde sculpture, far from being a degenerate tradition, "is work which transcends such simple categories as `commercial' and `spiritual,' `traditional' and `modern.'"

The question of identity vs. anonymity of artists is one which raises the counterquestion as to why all exhibitions have to focus on individual artists -- which is itself a Western notion. To present the work of a particular sculptural tradition flourishing at a given time is equally legitimate. See also David Elliott's supporting rejoinder to Chambers' criticisms.

Modern Makonde art derives from the Makonde people living on the plateau south of the Ruvuma river in Mozambique (rather than from the Tanzanian Makonde). They migrated north into Tanzania and entered into the curio trade that began to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara. Their new sculptural forms grew naturally out of older traditions of woodcarving (again, unlike the Tanzanian Makonde, who had no real carving tradition). Modern Makonde sculptures range from curios of the airport variety to truly fine sculptures of imagination and artistry, but the reality of their production for commerical purposes is one that cannot be ignored.

Coote discusses the materials, techniques, styles and genres. In addition to traditional carving (especially masks with typical Makonde scarification), there are three identifiable modern styles -- binadamu, ujamaa, and shetani -- which correspond perfectly with the characteristics sought by Western art consumers of "erotic" art: a move to naturalism, giganticism and grotesqueness. Shetani sculptures were once thought to be the invention of one man, but Coote clarifies the story and adds refuting evidence from the Malde collection that this is not so.

Elliott, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, rises to the defense of his museum's decision to exhibit a collection of Makonde sculpture, responding to a sharp critique by Eddie Chambers on the very idea of such a show. The Makonde corpus of the 1940s and 1950s featured in the exhibition legitimately reflects the birth of an autonomous modern art tradition; that it is not ritual art or that it became commercial are insufficient grounds for dismissing it as Chambers did. The quality of the sculpture stands on its own and should be assessed as such. That this exhibition is a substitute for showing black artists in the U.K. is, Elliott asserts, preposterous.

A second letter by Michael F. Stephen ("Venomous disinformation," page 30) follows Elliott's letter. In it Stephen also defends the scope and purpose of the Makonde exhibition and in so doing rebuts Eddie Chambers' "venomous disinformation." Stephen, who wrote one of the essays in the exhibition catalog (see below), defends his own experience in Mozambique in response to Chambers' implied slur against the credentials of authors of the catalog. The exchange of letters continued in Art monthly: Eddie Chambers, "Eddie Chambers on Makonde," Art monthly (London) 132, December 1989-January 1990, and a final sally by David Elliott, "Out of Africa," Art monthly (London) 133: 35, February 1990. With that, the editor called a halt.

Kammerer-Grothaus, whose essay is the centerpiece of this catalog, discusses all aspects of the contemporary Makonde sculptural tradition: its origins, its forms (e.g., the ujamaa-style figures), its iconography relating to myths and folklore, portraiture, the grotesque, and Christian imagery, and the market for Makonde sculpture. Giselher Blesse's essay "Traditionelle Makondekunst" sets the art historical background out of which the contemporary sculptural tradition grew. Elisabeth Grohs also contributes a general essay on Makonde art in Mozambique and Tanzania. Also included are interviews with two sculptors, Pajume Alale and Joseph Francis. The Makonde sculpture featured is that of Marion and Hans Eberhard Aurnhammer. Many of the sculptors are identified by name, and a complete list of artists (some with biodata) is appended.

This dissertation on the Makonde Blackwood carving movement focuses on the life histories of two sculptors Chanuo Maundu and Dastan Nyedi. Unlike previous studies which concentrated on issues of patronage, art market, and ascribed meanings, Kingdon places the artist as creator at the center of his investigation. The sculpture of Maundu and Nyedi and three others with whom they worked in Dar es Salaam "represent a specific development within the Makonde Blackwood carving movement which took root in Dar es Salaam during the 1960s" (page 1).

Kingdon presents a rich, layered background of Makonde culture and social organization and early history of the sculpture movement in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The role of Mohamed Peera in the birth of the modern movement as it emerged in Tanzania is examined in depth; Peera was interviewed extensively by Kingdon.

The shetani style of Makonde sculpture typifies the work of Maundu and Nyedi. Both artists are interrogated as to the meaning and significance of their shetani work within the context of aesthetics, innovation, and originality, or what Kingdon calls the "aesthetics of originality."

In 1974 Korn and Kirknæs published Modern Makonde art, following their sojourn in Tanzania where they met Makonde sculptors and made a substantial collection of Makonde sculpture. Now twenty-five years later, they have published this second tome on the evolution of Makonde sculpture during the 20th century from indigenous carving tradition to an international commercial art form. Much of this was driven by economics that first forced migrations of Makonde people from Mozambique to Tanzania (and later to Kenya) where commercial opportunities and patronage were more abundant, though fluctuating. Certainly economics and patronage shaped the aesthetics and style of Makonde sculpture as the century wore on.

All the sculptures illustrated in this book come from the collection of Korn and Kirknæs and date to the late 1960s. Out of their fairly extensive collecting emerged a few significant sculptors, who are singled out and profiled: Rashidi bin Mohamed (ca. 1930-1974), Kashimiri Matayo (born ca. 1930), Joseph Francis (born ca. 1930), Nafasi Mpagua (born ca. 1933), and Hossein Anangangola (born ca. 1935). The two main Makonde styles – shetani and ujamaa – are discussed along with a few other less well known styles. Most of the sculptures here are in the shetani style.

Eschewing the stigma of Makonde sculpture as nothing more than tourist art, Mohl asserts that the discerning eye can identify Makonde sculptures which are, as his title suggests, masterpieces. He admits that the task is made more difficult by the flood of imitators, copyists, and hacks. In this second volume of his photographic documentation of Makonde sculpture, Mohl includes more than 350 photographs. He largely excludes ujamaa (tree of life) sculptures from this survey. Thirty-two sculptors are represented.

Reviewed by Enrico Castelli in Africa (Rome) 48 (4): 671-672, Dicembre 1993.

From the early 1960s many Makonde farmers in northern Mozambique took up woodcarving to sell and supplement their incomes; this was encouraged by the FRELIMO liberation movement, which organized cooperative marketing of these carvings in Tanzania. Of course, the modern Makonde woodcarving tradition goes back well before the war of liberation, but the war and its aftermath served as a genuine impetus. The style of the figures also changed, going from the earlier naturalistic rather benign figures to more distorted, satirical or somber depictions. The so-called ujamaa sculptures (or in Portuguese "unidade de povo") date from the days of the liberation struggle.

The shetani sculptures from Mozambique differed from those in Tanzania; the latter were more sexually explicit and grotesque, being solely for the foreign tourist market. Stephen sees the more "puritanical" shetani of FRELIMO carvers as a direct result of FRELIMO's position against all forms of sexism and racism. The FRELIMO philosophy also mitigated or "tamed" the influence of the male masquerade mapico (mapiko), which came to be seen as essentially oppressive to women. The mapico was "liberated" and became a cultural symbol for Mozambique; it is danced on national days and has even appeared on a postage stamp.