BY DR TONY MICHEL MONDA
Anthony Bumhira, also known by his nom de plume as Anthony B, was a Zimbabwean visual artist with a unique talent and a deceptively deep-seated insight into human nature and the Zimbabwean working- class society. The peri-urban hoi polloi of Chitungwiza was Bumhira’s main source of inspiration.
His subjects were ordinary people, market vendors, housewives, fishermen on bicycles with rod and net, vagrants, beggars, field workers, builders and carpenters – each seen as an individual silhouette bearing the load of their solo journey to work, trade or semi-skilled occupation.
I recall purchasing a portfolio of his small works. His elegant early stark paintings of elongated figures stroked on paper with a palette knife or painted in deft strokes of bright primary colours were more than just a recollection of the distant memories of figures strolling in the dusty conurbations of Chitungwiza.
The art works were aesthetically and thematically accessible to the common man yet collectively embodied in them was a reflection of the working class and socio-economic milieu of peri-urban Harare and Chitungwiza that provided the pool of Bumhira’s visual insight.
But Bumhira’s horizons’ extended beyond the commonalty. He saw beauty, symbolism and awe in the landscapes of Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Harare South where the rugged protrusions of granite spoke to him in profusions of gunmetal gray boulders encrusted with ochre, rust and red lichen and surrounded by the ruby and olive foliage of Msasa, Mnondo and Mopani trees.
His 2009 exhibition entitled Blessings of Summer and the 2010 Celebrating Landscape held at the Art Cafe in Avondale, was the venue of his stylized, bespoke landscapes that distinguished him.
The broad and deceptively simple strokes of his early art works that was his signature style-confirmed the quiet assurance he had with both the medium he was using and the forms he was depicting. As a personality, his shy humility was becoming and unlikely for his stature.
There was a beneficial and logical expediency to the way he approached his profession and a unique style of art business practice where he built patronage and relationships with a broad demographic of Art collectors, from tourists to art scholars, speculators and museum collectors.
Born on 16 October 1985, in Chitungwiza, Harare, where he also attained his schooling, Bumhira enrolled for a two-year course with the BAT Visual Arts Studios in Mbare, in 2003, under the auspices of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. In 2005 he was awarded a third year honours class. That same year he was granted a residency at the National Gallery in Harare.
Following his graduation in 2005, he was selected to be an artist in residence at the same institution for two years. He became the ‘First chairman’ of the NGSVAD (National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design) Alumni until his death in January 2020 during the Covid- 19 period.
Bumhira held his first solo exhibition ‘Modern View’ in 2008 at Zimbabwe’s National Gallery, and has since exhibited in group exhibitions in Zimbabwe and internationally. His works are in the Permanent Collection of the National gallery of Zimbabwe and around the world.
Anthony B. has said that “nothing is more satisfying in my life than making a painting.”
Beyond his impressive semi-abstract, large-scale innovative art installations, the artist is also remembered by his peers for his wit, kindness and integrity.
At the time of his death, the Zimbabwean artist Anthony Bumhira, already known for his popular small works on paper of everyday scenes of peri-urban life in Harare South for the tourist markets, was producing large museum sized semi-abstract mixed media art and found objects installations artwork for museums and galleries.
Bumhira was uniquely outstanding in his art practice which deftly and self-assuredly straddled the tourist and high art markets ensuring him a popular following in the different sectors. His work is in private collections and can be seen at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and Amazwi Contemporary Art in Saugatuck, Michigan.
Bumhira’s solo exhibitions included: Modern View, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare – 2008; Blessings of summer, Art Café, Avondale, Harare – 2009; Red Canvas, Ambassador Hotel, Harare – 2009; Celebrating Landscape, Art Café, Avondale, Harare –2010; Summer Exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare – 2010; where Bumhira was awarded the ‘2010 Merit Award’.
Over the years, Bumhira’s works have been exhibited as part of collective exhibitions in Zimbabwe, France and the U.S.A where his work is extremely popular. His art works lie in private collections around the world.
The Zimbabwean artist Anthony Bumhira passed away in January 2020. A retrospective exhibition of his artworks held towards the end of this year (2023), by the National Gallery to financially support his widow and young children hangs in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s Main Space.
Dr Tony Michel Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is an arts, culture and music critic for Gemnation News.
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