Price is £40,000 (roughly $50,000) – offers considered.
This is the most impressive and substantial sculpture by the late great Henry Munyaradzi ever to be shown on our web gallery. It has impeccable provenance and is a real collector’s gem.
On one face, a mother’s face hovers above her baby which she clasps protectively. Below them is a bull with horns stretching from side to side. On the second face, a man clasps a brimming gourd (a traditional storage jar). The third side has been left rough, showing us the raw material within which Henry saw the finished sculpture.
So the sculpture as a whole tells a story of family values in traditional Shona society – husband and father as provider, wife and mother as bearer of children and carer, and the family’s wealth stored in their cattle and grains. Henry celebrates his own family, which was large, as the most important thing in life. Glorious!
Gallery-owner Barbara Ackerman, based in California, purchased this sculpture directly from Henry in around 1990. We know this because the sculpture comes with the original artist biography for Henry from the Barbara Ackerman Gallery – and it shows Barbara and Henry standing in Henry’s studio with this very piece! Documentation for authentic works of art don’t come any better than that. The list of exhibitions ends at 1990-1 so that suggests the piece dates to that period.
Imperial measurements are:
49 1/2″ (h) x 18″ (w) x 13 3/4″ (d) and 349 1/2 lbs.
This piece is here in the UK and will be shipped from there;
P&P at buyer’s expense.
If you’d like a shipping quote, please email us giving your delivery address (including post/zip code) and contact details.
For UK clients, you can also arrange a viewing by appointment.
