By Art Correspondent
Facilitated by Monda’s extensive training in the US and UK, Springstone International Art Gallery in Avondale, Harare, registered with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the African Council of African Studies Association (ACASA), based at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC., and UNESCO Headquarters, in Paris, France.
Over the years it built extensive synergies with international art institutions, universities, African art museum and libraries, to promote and develop a scholarship of African, especially Zimbabwean and southern African visual art and gave recommendations on collection, preservation, valuation and documentation of African art works.
Through Monda’s concerted engagement with embassies, the EU Community and UN agencies in Zimbabwe, Springstone used art as a diplomatic tool for the creation of mutual cooperation and cultural dialogue so as to understand the ways we can live with each other.
Springstone’s foreign policy and engagement was the bridge between gender, race, ethnicity and ownership; the East and West, between generations, the artist and audience and the old and new and stood for post-colonial cultural reclamation. Springstone Art Gallery was recognised by the US Whitehouse as a conduit for African-American relations.
At Springstone Monda was appointed head of research and documentation and served as creative curator, artist-in-residence, and exhibition designer.
Under his curatorial direction, aimed at the Artist/curator and co-director of Springstone International Art Gallery Tony Michel Monda advancement of the visual arts and culture of Zimbabwe, numerous thought-provoking art exhibitions were held from 1994 until its closure in 2009.
These art encounters stimulated international interests and illuminated the affinities and antipathies inherent in contemporary African visual art.
The exhibitions held at the Avondale-based Gallery included its resounding inaugural exhibition entitled “Old Masters and New Signatures” in April 1994; Afrikan Affinities, African Abstraction, Flora and Fauna, Iconic Heads, Avian Visions; Birds in Stone, CITIES, Animals in Stone, African Masks, Women in Stone, Gender and Power; HIV/AIDS in Art; Faces and Places – A Photographic Exhibition; Women Artists of Zimbabwe; Spirits in Stone; Afrikan Implements and Instruments; Narratives in Stone; Afrikan Eclipse; Evocative Heads; Torsos; Antiquity and Post-modernism in Shona art; Tribes and Tribulations in Shona Art; Symbols in Stone; Woven Tales – an Exhibition of Gudza Mats; Pipe Dreams – an exhibition of Tonga Pipes; Shona Dreams; Shona Mythology; Portraits of Hunger, Musical Stones; Life in Stone; Sirenophilia; Equestrian; Children at Play; Wine Labels; Magic Flora; Sexuality; Metamorphosis in Stone; Afrikan Surrealism; Flora in Stone; Stone Facets; Afrikan Cubism; Shona Biomorphisim; Orature in Stone; Songs in Stone; Stone Musings; Boira Mteki Retrospective; Charles Fernando Retrospective; State of the Art, Art for State; From Cyrene to McEwan; Lazarus Takawira Solo Exhibition; Ceramics, Form and Function, Afrikan Ceramics; Metal Musings; Dreams in Stone; African Tapestries; Transitions – from Antiquity to Modernity; Tonga Tributaries – An Exhibition of Tonga Geo-culture; Springstone Permanent Collection; Albert Mamvura Solo Exhibition; Bernard Manyandure; Paul Gwichiri, Bernard Takawira; Bernard Matemera’s Musings; Motion in Paint – An Exhibition of Urban ‘Earth Spirit’ sculpture by by Joram Mariga Mobility; The Future; Symbols of Water; Art in the ‘70s; New Signatures 1994–2007; Annual Group Exhibitions of Emerging Artists; Wood and Mixed Media Art exhibitions; KUDHINDA – An exhibition of Print-making in Zimbabwe; From Lino to Stone.
Monda was also responsible for compiling numerous historical essays, exhibition catalogues and monographs on Zimbabwean artists as well as various aspects of Zimbabwean paintings, stone sculpture and its purveyors, published by Springstone Art Publications (1994-2009). Much of his written works forms the definitive core of contemporary art of Zimbabwe. He believes: “The artistic and aesthetic identities of our society are cultural conduits that expound on the identities of our society and nation and interrogate our worldview of who we are and should be recorded and documented for posterity.”
As a result of Monda’s ongoing discourse, Springstone International Art Gallery developed an
international following that was buoyed by numerous articles in international journals, magazines and newspapers, such as the New York Daily, Atlanta Today, USA, Black Arts Int., Travel
International, Destinations, The Artist and Galleries Magazine and News Week USA, as well as ACASA newsletter (Vol 64, Fall 2002), University of Colorado, University of Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, UF University of Florida, UFDC (African Studies Department), and George A. Smather Libraries.
An eco-friendly gallery promoting ‘green policies’, Springstone was noted for the preservation of flora and fauna in Zimbabwe through its exhibitions of enduring artworks that commemorate the UN’s annual Environmental Day. Springstone was also recognised by UNESCO for its educational thrust, research and documentation of the arts.
Guided by Michelina Andreucci, the proprietor of the location on Idlehurst Way, and co-director
Tony Monda, Springstone International Art Gallery built its brand through a combined expertise and visionary thinking. Paying attention to detail and quality, it gained popularity for its authenticity and museum quality works.
The stone art collections, contemporary paintings, indigenous material culture and functional artefacts lit up the passions of international collectors, gallerists and connoisseurs.
The art curated at Springstone embodied typically Zimbabwean elements, language, history and culture. It was the first cyber art gallery in Zimbabwe to establish an international web site in 1996.
Michelina Andreucci created and maintained a luxuriously appointed estate at 5, Idlehurst Way,
Avondale, filled with works of art, antiques and cultural material collected over 40 years. Together with the erudite art critic, historian and curator, Tony Monda, the duo became a powerhouse in Zimbabwean contemporary art.
As a result, the extensive permanent art collection of artworks attracted the interest of Leo Burnett, the CBAC – Council for Business and Arts in Canada; the EAC Wainwright Institute; ARETE Zurich, Switzerland; Wildenstein and Co.; Thackeray; Sladmore; Saatchi; Bonhams; Christies; Drian Galleries, amongst others, in addition to the attention of international art patrons such as: Muriel Richardson, Dr. Jeannine Chesartis, Lawren S. Harris, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Peter Ludwig, Prof. Friedrich Gerke, Aachen Suermont, Arthur Sackler, Joannes Hoffman, Barbara Greene, Makila James, Peter Leitenbauer, Lorna Idakimm, Sabrina Morgan, Dr Amedeo Puccini, Dr. Estelle Clarke, Eva Hamilton, Eckhart Rhode, Emily Roysdon, Karen Manley, Larry Arpin, Michael Obert, and many more.
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