"Tonga Girl" by Lazarus Takawira

Price: $2,500.00


 


"Tonga Girl" is by the renowned Lazarus Takawira - all 6' 7" of him! Lazarus is one of the early sculptors and his work is highly sought after. Tonga Girl is sculpted in Springstone and features the classic Lazarus face. Measurements: 8" Tall x 3" Wide
Lazarus Takawira was born in 1952, in Nyanga, the eastern part of Zimbabwe. He is the youngest of three sculpting brothers whose mother, Amai, was also a sculptor. Although his brothers Bernard and the late John, are well established in Shona Sculpture, Lazarus’ work stands alone. Lazarus’ sculptures are a form of self expression. They depict his reactions to events that have taken place in his life. Often he incorporates a self-portrait into the stone which he sees as his signature. He uses the Shona cultural beliefs as a means of expressing himself. Lazarus says, “I only sculpt women. They are the most important sex because they are the source of all life, of all beauty, and of all joy for man. Women drive everything in our lives and as a sculptor, with every work I do I pay homage to the women in my life, who have made me what I am now.” Lazarus’ work is held permanently in the Zimbabwean National Gallery, as well as various public collections around the world. This includes the Musée Rodin in Paris, The World Bank in New York, The Africa Museum in Belgium and The Museum of Bombay in India. In 1990, during the Commonwealth Games at the Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibition, Lazarus was presented to the Queen whose heir, Prince Charles, has collected his work. Celia Irving-Winter, art historian and critic, says of Lazarus’ work: “Like his master counterparts, his brothers and Nicholas Mukomberwana, Lazarus Takawira has proved that stone sculpture made in Zimbabwe is not just the song which is sung to bring supper to the artist, but a real and finite expression of cultures within the subregion, which have both been subject to change and have recognisable and appliedroots. Takawira talks about his African culture, the moveable feast which comprises his beliefs, his life experience, his historic consciousness and his sense of spiritual and familial ancestry.” Takawira has received numerous awards for his work, and has participated in group exhibitions worldwide. He has also had a one-man show in Harare, Zimbabwe. His work leads the evolution of sculpture in Zimbabwe.