JOHN TAKAWIRA (SHONA B.1938 - D.1989), FEMALE BUST ZIMBABWE carved and polished springstone, signed to base (37.2cm tall) Footnote: Provenance: Private collection, Scotland Note: John Takawira (1938 – 1989) was a Zimbabwean artist and leading figure in the Shona sculpture movement of the mid-20th century. Takawira was among the first members of the Workshop School at what is now the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, where his work was exhibited from 1963 onwards. His noted sculpture Skeletal Baboon was displayed as part of the exhibition Arte de Vukutu in 1971 at the Musée National d'Art Moderne and in 1972 at the Musée Rodin where it was described by Charles Ratton as “the finest art to emerge from Africa in the twentieth century". The present example, carved in springstone (a form of black serpentine) likely depicts a village girl. The influence of Modigliani might be detected in the elongated face and stylised features. Though Modigliani himself was of course shaped by African art in turn, particularly by the streamlined, pursed lips of the Guro masks of the Ivory Coast.