Guruve specialises in stone sculpture from Zimbabwe, often known as the Shona art movement. Although the younger artists may choose modern themes, the striking simplicity of their pieces reveals they too belong to an art movement that first gained international exposure in the 1950s...
In 1957, Frank McEwen was appointed as the first curator of the new National Gallery in Harare. He had previously been curator at the Rodin Museum, Paris and had links with various artists of the time, including Picasso (who was himself heavily influenced by African art) and Matisse.
McEwen was impressed with the talent of some of the artists he met in Zimbabwe, and he encouraged them to paint and later to sculpt. Because of his contacts in the international art world, he was able to give the movement that later became known as 'Shona sculpture' (after Zimbabwe's most numerous tribe) its first international exposure. However, it is not fair to say that he created the movement.
McEwen encouraged the artists to look inward, to find their so-called tribal subconsciousness and express it through their art. Much of the early work was inspired by Shona mythology.
