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Artists A-Z
Bernard Matemera (1946 – 2002)
Bernard Matemera was born in 1946 in Guruve, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and died in 2002.
In 1963 Bernard Matemera was working as a contract tractor driver for tobacco farmers in Tengenenge and met Tom Blomefield, whose farm had extensive deposits of serpentine stone suitable for carving. By 1966, Tom Blomefield wanted to diversify the use of his land and welcomed new sculptors onto it to form a community of working artists. This was partly because at that time there were international sanctions against Rhodesia’s white government led by Ian Smith, who had declared Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, and tobacco was no longer able to generate sufficient income. Bernard Matemera was one of the first artists to take up sculpting full-time, joining others including Henry Munyaradzi, Josia Manzi, Fanizani Akuda, Sylvester Mubavi and Lemon Moses, who formed part of what is now called the First Generation of Zimbabwean sculptors in hard stones.
Bernard Matemera stayed at Tengenenge throughout the war for Zimbabwean Independence at a time when many other artists abandoned their way of life. He became the symbolic leader of the community and from the 1980s gained worldwide recognition, with works included in exhibitions in the US, UK, Germany, The Netherlands and elsewhere.
Bernard Matemera sculpted mainly in grey or black serpentine, finishing his work to a uniform polished surface. His subjects were animals, people or fantasy spirit creatures.
Bernard Matemera has participated in major group exhibitions, including New African Art (1968), MOMA in New York and Chapungu: Custom and Legend – A Culture in Stone (2000), Kew Gardens in London.
Many of Bernard Matemera's exhibition pieces, such as Great Spirit Woman (Serpentine, 1982), have toured worldwide; for example to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1990.
Bernard Matemera is represented in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Chapungu Sculpture Park, the Museum für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt and many others.
"Stone sculptures from Zimbabwe", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 09.07. – 23.09.1999
"Blick nach Afrika", New Art, Galleries Bittner & Dembinski, Kassel, 21.02. – 20.03.1999
"Spirit of Tengenenge", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 15.05. – 23.09.1998
"Time Travel - New Art from Africa", „Siemens informiert“, Erlangen, 19.09. - 16.10.1997
"AUFBRUCH – Moderne Afrikanische Kunst", Hotel-Pyramide and Euro-Med-Clinic, Fürth, Bavaria,
"Magie in Stein", Gallery ZAK, Fürth, Bavaria, 24.05. – 26.07.1995
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