The Art of the Makonde

The art of the Makonde people burst on the world, only three decades ago, in rich and joyous exhuberation.

The Examples of the earlier carving tradition of this interesting people are to be found occasionally in museums and in private collections; but, until comparatively recently, they had made little impact. A flood of studies of this art-form during the 60s sought to explain the Makonde point of view and we now begin to understand something of the background to the vigour of this explosion.

Today, there are – in classic Renaissance-style – schools of Makonde carvers. Their work is being encouraged as a nationalised contribution to African culture and copied as “airport art”. Factories of the prolific Kamba carvers have been influenced, too, into repetitive output; but the Makonde remain supreme in the field, with their imaginative representations of djinn , wood sprites and angry beings, leering along the periphery of human existence and, to some extent, controlling it.

[Read more about Makonde Art...] 

Francis Ntotani, a Makonde Wood Carver

Francis Ntotani belongs to the Makonde Tribe and was born in Mosambique in 1939.

He only visited a missionary school for a short time before his father died and Francis left home at the age of 15 to go with a friend to Dar Es Salam. In Tanzania, where many members of the Makonde Tribe live, he learned the art of Makonde Carving. During this time, the early sixties, Makonde wood carvings became world famous and therefore more and more commercial art. Traditional wood carvings were mainly gifts or spiritual items full of ugly “djinns” and “shetanis”, best described as evil ghosts or Cobolts. Not seldom characteristics of living humans of the closer social surrounding were included. This intertwinement finds it’s peak in so called “environments”, where up to hundreds of characters are brought into connection.

[Read more about Francis Ntotani...]

How a piece of wood becomes a sophisticated Makonde Carving

Jochen Schmidt kindly provided us with a series of photos he once made of the development of such a carving. Over weeks he took photos of the carving in exactly the same position at exactly the same angle and distance to provide us with a series of photos we then animated to produce this effect. You will require Macromedia Flash Player to view this file. The presentation is about 500 KB in size, so you might need to wait a little bit for it to load...[view presentation]

Makonde Wood Carving Art for Sale on Bushdrums.com

On Bushdrums you have the opportunity to purchase some of this unique traditional art. Please do not mistake the carvings for the type of carvings you can purchase on the street or in souvenir shops. These carvings are aged traditional pieces of art and have nothing to do with the flimsy work produced today. They are from a private collector and were created by Francis Ntotani who - by now - has retired from his exacting profession. Even this quality of wood itself has become very rare. The demand for carvings does not allow such timber to season in the forests before carving. Today's carvings are often produced from freshly cut trees which often results in deformation or cracking of the wood as it dries in your possession.

If you wish to purchase any of these carvings, please contact us.

Carving Francis 18

Specifications:

Size: 116 cm
Age: 19 years
Wood: "Muhugu" (African Mahogany)
Weight: 8.6 kg
Price: 840 € *

Carving Francis 23

Specifications:

Size: 118 cm
Age: 19 years
Wood: "Muhugu" (African Mahogany)
Weight: 12.8 kg
Price: 960 € *

Carving Francis 17

Specifications:

Size: 121 cm
Age: 22 years
Wood: "Muhugu" (African Mahogany)
Weight: 11.8 kg
Price: 990 € *

Carving Francis 22

Specifications:

Size: 122 cm
Age: 21 years
Wood: "Muhugu" (African Mahogany)
Weight: 10.3 kg
Price: 990 € *

Carving Francis 21

Specifications:

Size: 76 cm
Age: 19 years
Wood: "Muhugu" (African Mahogany)
Weight: 6.3 kg
Price: 580 € *

Carving Francis 20

Specifications:

Size: 63 cm
Age: 25 years
Wood: Seasoned "Muhugu" (African Mahogany which was already aged before carving)
Weight: 4.6 kg
Price: 500 € *

Carving Francis 19

Specifications:

Size: 47 cm
Age: 25 years
Wood: Seasoned "Muhugu" (African Mahogany which was already aged before carving)
Weight: 3.0 kg
Price: 330 € *

Carving Francis 24

Specifications:

Size: 101 cm
Age: 20 years
Wood: "Mpera Vitu " (African Rose-Wood dyed black)
Weight: 6.1 kg
Price: 750 € *

Estimated Shipping Costs: