Most people, when they first encounter Shona stone sculpture, assume that it is a modern art form. In fact, over a several-century period starting around 1000 AD, stone carvers, using simple hand tools, built a large stone complex, called the Great Zimbabwe. For reasons about which different and contradictory theories abound, the city complex was abandoned around 1600 and subsequently plundered and all but destroyed; the stone carvers fled to other parts of Southern Africa; and the craft of stone carving died out. 
    In the mid-1950s, civil unrest in the country that had become Southern Rhodesia under British rule evolved into a 15 year civil war that led in 1980 to formal independence for the new nation of Zimbabwe. In 1956, Frank McEwen, a former art critic and curator of the Musee Rodin in Paris, became the first director of the new National Gallery in Salisbury, the capital of Rhodesia. Although the colonists expected McEwen to bring European art to this colonial outpost, instead he traveled around his new homeland and discovered a handful of Shona tribesmen working on stone sculpture in what came to be known as a "rediscovered" art form. Assisted by workshop schools that McEwen helped establish to promote this indigenous art, Shona sculpture soon developed into a substantial local art movement . Along the way, 100 Shona sculptures were featured at an exhibit at the Rodin Museum in Paris in 1971.
     For the modern Shona sculptors, much like their forebearers, an essential part of the sculpting process is enabling the spirit or spirits residing in the stone to be released into a more recognizable form. Thus, the sculptors, most of whom live in rural areas of the eastern portion of the country, search through the thousands of acres of stones for one that "speaks" to them. There are many different kinds of stone that the sculptors use, from sandstone, the softest and easiest to carve, to granite and the semiprecious verdite, the hardest and most difficult to carve. The range of stone includes opal stone, bloodstone, and serpentine, the most prevalent material and one that can be found in over 200 shades of green and brown. Then, using simple, traditional hatchets and chisels, they set to work on their sculptures. The elaborate, yet time honored, process that can take many months to complete includes extensive sanding and rubbing, heating alongside an open wood fire, covering with many layers of wax, and polishing and buffing.

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 Although the specific subjects of the individual sculptures are as varied and numerous as the actual number of sculptures themselves, there are several important themes that keep recurring. One of these is the family, since the family, both natural and extended, plays such an important part in the Shona culture. A second theme is homage to the various spirits that play such a central role. Some of the sculptures feature ancestors, who impart knowledge, wisdom, and culture to those currently living, or tribal chieftains and elders, always held in high esteem. Another common theme is the activity of daily life—working, dancing, thinking, resting, or being at peace. Finally, some sculptures represent the transformation of animals or birds into human form or the reverse, since such metamorphosis is an important part of the Shona cultural cosmos. However, regardless of the theme or the specific subject, the content/meaning of a sculpture almost invariably derives from the individual artist’s sense of meaning that emanates from the stone itself.
     Over the past half-century, increasing numbers of Shona tribes people have become sculptors, including, recently, women. The first few who began working in the 1940s and 1950s became known as the First Generation sculptors, including internationally recognized Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Henry Munyaradzi, and Boira Mteki. Their children and almost 100 of their age mates became the Second Generation Artists, including Richard Mteki and David Gopito. Since then, a Third Generation of artists, numbering several hundred, has also emerged, including Adam Gatsi and Lucky Mupinga, among a host of others. Even younger artists are beginning to create a Fourth Generation, and we can only hope there will be many more generations in the future.

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Shona sculpture has always represented an artistic value. Now the economic deterioration of the Zimbabwean economy has caused a severe devaluation of the currency, which has led to falling prices for all Zimbabawean exports, including sculpture. Coupled with the diminishing reserve of verdite and other Zimbabwean stones, Shona sculpture has never been so reasonable. To say that Shona sculpture represents a good investment value is an understatement. Whether a collector ever has any intention of selling their work, there has never been a better time to collect this beautiful art form.