Celia Winter-Irving
Encyclopedia
Celia Winter-Irving was an Australian artist
and art critic
who wrote extensively about the Art of Zimbabwe
, especially Shona sculpture
, when she lived in Harare
from 1987-2008 .
, Australia
, the only child of William and Audrey Winter-Irving, and grew up at their farm called Gundamian, near Echuca. She was a granddaughter of Sir Samuel Hordern
, who was the director of the family company Anthony Hordern & Sons
. Celia studied Fine Arts, especially sculpture
and became Director of Public Relations for the John Power Foundation for Fine Arts, University of Sydney
. As a sculptor using metal, she won the Wyong
Sculpture Prize but in later life she mainly painted. In 1981 she married Philip Thompson, a widower. They opened the Irving Sculpture Gallery in Glebe, New South Wales
, the first in Australia dedicated solely to sculpture. Celia wrote about sculpture and art for magazines such as Craft International, Art Network and Arts Queensland.
Celia's husband died in 1985, following which she continued as Director of the Gallery and organised successful exhibitions, particularly those that introduced the Sydney public to Shona stone sculpture
. Works were brought to Australia by Roy Guthrie, the founder of the Chapungu Sculpture Park
and he introduced Celia to Tom Blomefield, a white farmer at Tengenenge in the north of Zimbabwe, who had created an artists' community of sculptors there. When, in 1986, the British art journal Studio International commissioned an article on Shona sculpture, Celia visited Zimbabwe to do research and stayed at the Tengenenge Sculpture Community. She was so impressed with what she saw that she moved to live permanently in Harare
and decided to write a book about the sculpture of Zimbabwe.
from 1987 to 2008. She was employed by the Chapungu Sculpture Park
, as a research fellow of the Southern African Political and Economic Series (SAPES) and most importantly by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe
, where she was an Honorary Research Fellow (from 1998) and later (from 2003 to 2007) curator. In 2007, Celia was appointed researcher and writer at the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe
, where she had helped develop the annual National Merit Awards for artists in the country. She had been jurist on these awards on three occasions. During this whole period, she wrote extensively: as a columnist writing on Zimbabwean art and culture for The Herald and Zimbabwe Mirror, Southern Times and Air Zimbabwe
's inflight magazine Sky Host. She published an anthology of many of her articles in 2004 and achieved her ambition to write books about the sculptors and their works. She also promoted the international reputation of the leading artists by writing introductions to exhibition catalogues, giving television and radio interviews and seeking funding from private and government sponsors. In doing so, she became arguably the foremost authority in the art history of the Shona sculpture movement.
Celia maintained close contact with the Tengenenge Sculpture Community near Guruve
, which she often visited and where she taught painting to the children of the sculptors who worked there. Her own specialism was abstract art and she had one solo show at Sandros Gallery in Harare
. She wrote a children's book, Soottie the cat at Tengenenge, the story of a cat exploring the surrealist world of art and sculpture.
Winter-Irving had the instincts of a journalist for pithy and insightful comments, combined with the dedication and patience to fully research what she wrote about. When interviewed at Chupungu in 2002, for example, she said
When ill-health forced Celia to return to Sydney
for treatment, she still managed to deliver a final lecture on Shona sculpture at the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales
on 23 April 2009, just a few months before her death from cancer.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and art critic
Art critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...
who wrote extensively about the Art of Zimbabwe
Art of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean art includes decorative esthetics applied to many aspects of life, including art objects as such, utilitarian objects, objects used in religion, warfare, in propaganda, and in many other spheres. Within this broad arena, Zimbabwe has several identifiable categories of art...
, especially Shona sculpture
Shona art
Shona art is the name applied to the visual culture of Zimbabwe. The term is used despite the fact that many artists now working there are not ethnically Shona and logically it should include art produced by settlers or visitors to Zimbabwe, especially in the colonial period...
, when she lived in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
from 1987-2008 .
Early life
Celia Winter-Irving was born in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the only child of William and Audrey Winter-Irving, and grew up at their farm called Gundamian, near Echuca. She was a granddaughter of Sir Samuel Hordern
Samuel Hordern
Sir Samuel Hordern KBE was an Australian businessman. Educated at Sydney Grammar School and Bath College, England he directed the Hordern family company Anthony Hordern & Sons for more than fifty years....
, who was the director of the family company Anthony Hordern & Sons
Anthony Hordern & Sons
Anthony Horderns was the largest department store in Sydney, Australia. It was originally established by a free immigrant from England, Anthony Hordern, in 1823, as a drapery shop...
. Celia studied Fine Arts, especially sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and became Director of Public Relations for the John Power Foundation for Fine Arts, University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. As a sculptor using metal, she won the Wyong
Wyong, New South Wales
Wyong was proclaimed a town in 1888 and is currently a major northern suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, located approximately 89 km NNE of Sydney. It is the administrative centre for the Wyong Shire local government area.- History :...
Sculpture Prize but in later life she mainly painted. In 1981 she married Philip Thompson, a widower. They opened the Irving Sculpture Gallery in Glebe, New South Wales
Glebe, New South Wales
Glebe is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located 3 km south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region....
, the first in Australia dedicated solely to sculpture. Celia wrote about sculpture and art for magazines such as Craft International, Art Network and Arts Queensland.
Celia's husband died in 1985, following which she continued as Director of the Gallery and organised successful exhibitions, particularly those that introduced the Sydney public to Shona stone sculpture
Shona art
Shona art is the name applied to the visual culture of Zimbabwe. The term is used despite the fact that many artists now working there are not ethnically Shona and logically it should include art produced by settlers or visitors to Zimbabwe, especially in the colonial period...
. Works were brought to Australia by Roy Guthrie, the founder of the Chapungu Sculpture Park
Chapungu Sculpture Park
The Chapungu Sculpture Park is a sculpture park in Msasa, Harare, Zimbabwe, which displays the work of Zimbabwean stone sculptors. Its was founded in 1970 by Roy Guthrie, who was instrumental in promoting the work of its sculptors worldwide...
and he introduced Celia to Tom Blomefield, a white farmer at Tengenenge in the north of Zimbabwe, who had created an artists' community of sculptors there. When, in 1986, the British art journal Studio International commissioned an article on Shona sculpture, Celia visited Zimbabwe to do research and stayed at the Tengenenge Sculpture Community. She was so impressed with what she saw that she moved to live permanently in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
and decided to write a book about the sculpture of Zimbabwe.
Later years
Winter-Irving lived in ZimbabweZimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
from 1987 to 2008. She was employed by the Chapungu Sculpture Park
Chapungu Sculpture Park
The Chapungu Sculpture Park is a sculpture park in Msasa, Harare, Zimbabwe, which displays the work of Zimbabwean stone sculptors. Its was founded in 1970 by Roy Guthrie, who was instrumental in promoting the work of its sculptors worldwide...
, as a research fellow of the Southern African Political and Economic Series (SAPES) and most importantly by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe
National Gallery of Zimbabwe
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is a gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe, dedicated to the presentation and conservation of Zimbabwe’s contemporary art and visual heritage...
, where she was an Honorary Research Fellow (from 1998) and later (from 2003 to 2007) curator. In 2007, Celia was appointed researcher and writer at the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe
National Arts Council of Zimbabwe
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe is the official arts council for Zimbabwe....
, where she had helped develop the annual National Merit Awards for artists in the country. She had been jurist on these awards on three occasions. During this whole period, she wrote extensively: as a columnist writing on Zimbabwean art and culture for The Herald and Zimbabwe Mirror, Southern Times and Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe
Air Zimbabwe is the national airline of Zimbabwe, headquartered in Harare. From its hub at Harare International Airport, the carrier operates a network within southern Africa that also includes Asia and London-Gatwick. The company is a member of the International Air Transport Association, and of...
's inflight magazine Sky Host. She published an anthology of many of her articles in 2004 and achieved her ambition to write books about the sculptors and their works. She also promoted the international reputation of the leading artists by writing introductions to exhibition catalogues, giving television and radio interviews and seeking funding from private and government sponsors. In doing so, she became arguably the foremost authority in the art history of the Shona sculpture movement.
Celia maintained close contact with the Tengenenge Sculpture Community near Guruve
Guruve
-Districts and areas:*Roundhouse*Delaware Mine*Natasha Valley...
, which she often visited and where she taught painting to the children of the sculptors who worked there. Her own specialism was abstract art and she had one solo show at Sandros Gallery in Harare
Harare
Harare before 1982 known as Salisbury) is the largest city and capital of Zimbabwe. It has an estimated population of 1,600,000, with 2,800,000 in its metropolitan area . Administratively, Harare is an independent city equivalent to a province. It is Zimbabwe's largest city and its...
. She wrote a children's book, Soottie the cat at Tengenenge, the story of a cat exploring the surrealist world of art and sculpture.
Winter-Irving had the instincts of a journalist for pithy and insightful comments, combined with the dedication and patience to fully research what she wrote about. When interviewed at Chupungu in 2002, for example, she said
"The sculptor in Zimbabwe is not somebody who sits in a studio with a grant from his government or her government, making nice little excursions into the post-modern. The Zimbabwean sculptor today is often a man or a woman sculpting in their back yard in ChitungwizaChitungwizaChitungwiza — known colloquially as Chi Town — is a high-density dormitory town in Zimbabwe. The town is approximately 30 kilometres south of the capital, Harare. It was formed in 1978 from three townships: Seke, Zengeza, and St Marys.- Background :...
, where the man next door is beating his wife and the child next door is being molested by her uncle, you know. So the artist today in Zimbabwe is in the thick of what is happening."
When ill-health forced Celia to return to Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
for treatment, she still managed to deliver a final lecture on Shona sculpture at the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
on 23 April 2009, just a few months before her death from cancer.
Major publications
- (1991) Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe: Context, Content & Form, Roblaw Publishers, Harare, ISBN 0908309147 (Paperback) ISBN 0908309112 (Cloth bound)
- (1996) Aufbruch: Moderne Afrikanische Kunst, die Sammlung Kleine-Gunk, Solaris
- (1997) Contemporary Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe, Craftsman House ISBN 9789768097378
- (2000) Lazarus Takawira (A biography)
- (2000) Anderson MukomberanwaAnderson MukomberanwaAnderson Mukomberanwa was a Zimbabwean artist known primarily for his stone sculpture. The son of Nicholas Mukomberanwa, he was the brother of sculptors Taguma, Lawrence, Ennica, and Netsai Mukomberanwa, and the cousin of Nesbert Mukomberanwa....
(A biography) - (2001) Tengenenge Art Sculpture and Paintings, World Art Foundation, Eerbeek, The Netherlands, ISBN 9080623725
- (2001) Soottie the cat at Tengenenge, Tengenenge (Pvt) Ltd, Graniteside, Harare ISBN 0797422609
- (2002) We Have Something to Say: Children in Zimbabwe Speak Out, Children's Consortium Zimbabwe, ISBN 0797424024
- (2002) Agnes NyanhongoAgnes NyanhongoAgnes Nyanhongo is a Zimbabwean sculptor. Together with Colleen Madamombe, she is regarded as the most successful female Zimbabwean stone sculptor....
, Sculptor, Chapungu Sculpture Park, ISBN 0797424229 - (2003) New Visions In Stone (commissioned by art promoters Tim & Dawn Anderson with Glenn Sullivan), Harare
- (2004) Pieces of Time: An anthology of articles on Zimbabwe’s stone sculpture published in The Herald and Zimbabwe Mirror 1999-2000, Mambo Press, Zimbabwe, ISBN 0869227815
- (2004) Phillip Kotokwa: My Life in Stone Sculpture in Zimbabwe and Beyond (jointly authored with Phillip Kotokwa and published privately), ISBN 0797428054
- (2004) Mike (Mekias) Munyaradzi: the stone's apprentice: Zimbabwean master sculptor, Friends Forever (Pvt), ISBN 0797428674
- (2005) Paixao Africa (African Passion): Contemporary Zimbabwean Sculpture , Monte Palace Tropical Museum, Madeira.
- (2006) Following the Footsteps of Wisdom: The Sculpture of Merchers Chiwawa, Bastian Muller, Witten, Germany
- (2007) Contemporary Zimbabwean sculpture, Národní galerie, ISBN 8070353600
- (2009) Spirit of a woman - a journey through the sculpture of Lazarus Takawira, (privately published by Dr Marie Imbrova)