Antoinette Lubaki
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Antoinette Lubaki | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1895 |
| Died | unknown |
| Other names | Atoinet Lubaki, Atoinet Mfumbi |
| Occupation | Artist |
Antoinette Lubaki (Atoinet Lubaki, Atoinet Mfumbi)[1] (Bukama, Congo Free State) (1895-?) was a Congolese watercolourist, and Congo's first known female artist.[2] She is considered one of the forerunners of modern art in Congo, alongside her husband, painter and ivory worker Albert Lubaki and the tailor-painter Djilatento.[3] The Lubakis are thought to be the first artists in Congo to create their works on paper.[4][5]
Antoinette Lubaki was the daughter of the village chief of Bukama, then in Shaba (Katanga) province,[6] which is why she is sometimes referred to as "princess".[7] She was married to Albert Lubaki, an ivory worker, and they lived in Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi).[4]
Career
In 1926, Georges Thiry, an administrator in the Belgian Congo, was travelling on a mission[8][9] and noticed the beautiful images made from charcoal, kaolin and clay on the walls of huts in Bukama.[7] These had been made by Antoinette Lubaki and her husband Albert. Thiry was a lover of modern art, and asked the Lubakis to recreate the decorations and make other work on paper in order to "perpetuate this ephemeral art".[5] To this end, he provided them with paper and watercolours, candles to light their work, and the promise to buy up all their watercolours.[10][11]
Thiry then transferred the Lubakis' work to Gaston-Denys Perier, an executive officer at the Ministry of Colonies, who was a collector of Congolese art.[5]
Perier recognised the artistic value of the works and decided to show Antoinette and Albert Lubaki's work in Europe. The Lubakis and another artist Djilatendo became the first Congolese artists whose works on paper reached Europe. Their works were traded there for Western art market by Perier, who also kept a large collection for himself.[10] The Lubakis were completely unaware of this, and were even surprised that Thiry was interested in their works.[10]
Antoinette Lubaki mainly made figurative works of scenes from everyday life and depictions of local legends. She worked without perspective, background or shadow. Nature and animals from the surrounding area were added in a poetic way. From the edge of the paper, she sometimes made a frame in which all kinds of figures were present. The use of colours was also purely based on her imagination and far away from realism. She often signed her work "Antoinet".[12] The Lubakis started making watercolours at night, as cultural practices dictated that no stories were allowed to be told during the day.[10]