Art ‘born from the bowels of Africa’ at Gallery Delta

Advance tickets for the Hockney exhibition were sold out weeks ago, but ardent art lovers can still queue to buy tickets for late night viewings between 8.30pm and midnight on Friday and Saturday evenings. By contrast, nothing could be easier than a trip to Gallery Delta in Robert Paul’s Old House, in Livingstone Avenue, Harare, where friendly gallery staff allow you to browse the exhibition at leisure and may even offer you tea or coffee on the verandah.
Audiences have always been fascinated with artistic depictions of landscapes. Hockney’s exhibition spans a 50-year period in which he painted vivid pictures of the East Yorkshire countryside, the place he calls home, in spite of a fascination in the 70s with
the beaches and swimming pools of California. In Gallery Delta’s latest exhibition, the land, which is considered to be the birthright of all Zimbabweans, features distinctively in the work of every artist.
There is but one painting by Jean Hahn in this exhibition entitled Dark Light. The oil on board landscape is typical of Hahn’s uncompromising and minimalist style. She always painted in the dry season, when the bush was gasping for rain, her work instantly recognisable by her limited colour palette of sulphurous yellow, warm earth, grey and charcoal. The late Frank McEwan, one time director of the National Gallery, praised her and other artists for making art “born from the bowels of Africa” rather than depicting “pretties” such as jacarandas, cosmos and msasa trees.
Robert Paul, one of Zimbabwe’s best known artists, lived, loved and painted in the charming old Rhodesian house which now houses Gallery Delta, Foundation for Art and the Humanities. So at this exhibition of landscapes, it’s appropriate to find several watercolours by Paul, depicting some of his favourite places, such as the Eastern Cape and Nyanga. Qolora Looking North evokes a peaceful Wild Coast seascape of azure lagoons and pale, rolling sands interspersed with occasional darker patches of vegetation, soft green lawns and scrubby palm trees.
Justin Gope, who was born in Mozambique but made his name as an artist in Zimbabwe, is equally at home with rural landscapes, figure drawing and seascapes. Summer at Mozambique Beach, his mixed media painting of lissom figures frolicking and surfing in the clear waters of the Indian Ocean, is a delight.
In spite of the wealth of talent to be found among Zimbabwean artists, there is little support or funding available to support their efforts. Many young artists work long daylight hours in various types of employment, snatching time in the evenings to create art, or realise their artistic visions. A young artist who is emerging with an impressive body of work is Munyaradzi Mugorosa. Reclining Landscape, a large Dali-esque mixed media painting, illustrates our relationship with Mother Earth and our proximity to the landscape. Observing Mugorosa’s comfortably reclining figure, while it grasps rocks and stones and trees in a strong left hand, the biblical words, “the earth is yours and the fullness thereof” spring to mind.
An exciting development is the return to the art world of Stephen Huntsman Williams, whose landscape paintings were first exhibited 30 years ago, in the Gallery Delta of Strachan’s Buildings, in Harare’s CBD. While Williams may be better known for his services to medicine and to Africa’s Hospice and Palliative Care Programmes, it’s no secret that he is passionate about art.
Like Hockney, although on a smaller scale, he evokes the spirit of place and the passing of time in a series of paintings. Inspired by a return to his family’s farm in Esigodini, Williams’ abstract oil on canvas paintings, such as A Farmer’s Flag, Flags of the Land and Farm Drum represent familiar farming implements; the delicate grasses in Autumn represent changing seasons. These scenes are also metaphors for the generations a close-knit family has spent on the land.
Land, Sea and Sky runs until the end of March.