About Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture

Zimbabwe's stone sculptures have fast become collector items and can now be found in world class galleries such as the Rodin Museum in Paris, Museum of Modern art in New York, Museum of Mankind in London. The value of this art did not escape the discerning eyes of some of the world‚s prominent art collectors such as the Rockerfellers, Prince Charles and the Rothchilds who each have a few pieces of the Zimbabwe stone sculptures in their private collections.

More than 250 unique types of stone have been identified to be in use in stone sculpture today. The most commonly used type of stone is Serpentine which occurs in a wide variety of colors including reds, greens, grays, oranges, black and yellows. Other types of stones used also vary in colors and hardness and include verdite, rapoko stone, soapstone and spring stone.

The process of creating each piece is very labor intensive and requires patience and skill. To produce such magnificent artifacts, simple tools such as chisels, hammers, spikes, sand paper, water, heat and wax are used. It can take up to a month to produce a medium sized sculpture. For most artists, stone sculpture is their only source of income. Like any true works of art, no two sculpture can be exactly alike. What may look like irregularities are indeed the true marks of authenticity. Care should be exercised when handling the stone sculptures as they are fragile. To restore the shine to polished surfaces , use a neutral colored polish such as shoe polish. After the polish dries out, rub surface with a soft cloth. To conceal scratches, use black shoe polish even on light colored stones - it wipes off leaving the original color refreshed!!