Belle statue, Nyamwezi, Tanzanie

Ancienne collects ion du Dr. Helga Redlich, Allemagne

The right foot and the front of the left foot broken and missing, a large crack through the centre of the torso with an old indigenous repair (nails), the head cracked and broken off, reattached with nails and iron bands (indigenous repair), all visible in the catalogue illustration. The left arm with an old break, the elbow missing.
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Dans le dynamisme et l'exubérance propres à l'art Nyamwezi, l'artiste a puisé le jeu libre des proportions, les bras anguleux venant s'enrouler autour du buste, dont s'emparent finalement les mains surdimensionnées. Au mouvement induit par la distorsion des membres répond magistralement la tête tout en finesse et en émotion, les traits à peine signifiés, le regard tourné vers le ciel, semblant avec une poésie infinie, sonder l'infini.

Le corpus restreint des statues Nyamwezi – toutes liées au culte des ancêtres (Nooter in Philipps, 1995 : 161 – 163) – regroupe essentiellement des œuvres provenant de la partie orientale de l'Unyamwezi, à proximité des Sukuma, style auquel elles empruntent le visage grimaçant. Ici, la sérénité contenue de la forme et de l'expression permet d'attribuer l'œuvre aux Nyamwezi centraux, et de l'apparenter stylistiquement - plus encore qu'à la statuaire en pied -, à l'emblématique siège de chef collects é en 1898 par le Lt von Grawert, aujourd'hui conservé au Museum für Völkerkunde de Berlin (inv. III E 6720).

L'art de l'Afrique de l'Est, essentiellement composé d'œuvres d'art appliqué, a longtemps été négligé par l'Occident. En 1995, l'exposition internationale Africa, The Art of a Continent, inaugurée à Londres, accordait pour la première fois une place égale aux arts des différentes régions du Continent. Elle révéla entre autre l'importance de la statuaire Nyamwezi, fondée sur d'irrésistibles qualités émotionnelles - exacerbées ici par l'état fragmentaire et la violence de la réparation indigène.

A fine Nyamwezi figure, Tanzania

The dynamism and exuberance of Nyamwezi art are evident here in the free manner in which the artist has played with scale and proportion, the angular arms curving around the bust, and ending in a pair of oversized hands. The movement created by the distortion of the limbs is complimented by the delicacy and emotion of the head, its features simply suggested, looking skywards with a poetic gaze towards the infinite.

The small corpus of Nyamwezi figures, all of which are related to ancestor worship (Nooter in Philips, 1995: 161-163) primarily encompasses works from the western part of Unyamwezi, near to the Sukuma, from whom they borrow the appearance of the face. The offered figure's serene form and expression allow one to attribute it to the central Nyamwezi, and to relate it to the emblematic chief's chair collects ed in 1898 by Lieutenant Von Grawert, which is now in the Museum für Völkerkunde de Berlin (inv. III E 6720). Interestingly, the offered figure bears a greater resemblance to the chair than to other examples of free-standing statuary.

The art of East Africa, which is primarily composed of works of applied art, was for a long t.mes neglected by the west. In 1995, the international exhibition Africa: the Art of a Continent, which opened in London, granted an equal position to art from all parts of the continent. The exhibition revealed the importance of Nyamwezi statuary, which is based on moving emotional qualities which are enhanced here by the figure's fragmentary condition and by the indigenous repair.