Kayembe is one of the disciples of Hangar's workshop in the 1950s. His work is different from the one of the other proteges of Pierre Romain-Desfossés by the importance given to the narration of human activity within compositions very sophisticated.
In the small paper formats that we present, nature is illustrated in a naive way. Vegetation, birds and snakes of unlikely proportions seem to be applied on the canvas, ignoring perspective. Fish with bulging eyes fly on surface of water, as hypnotized, magnetized by the fisherman's boat.
Lot 641 - Mwenze Kibwanga (1925-1999)
Untitled, 1954
Oil on Paper
Result: 8 450 €
The large, very narrative formats by Kayembe could claim a pedagogical vocation. They are composed by registers; the soil and its tall grasses vegetation where men and game live and hide, and the sky laden with geometric patterns which are reminiscent of traditional fabrics. The elders teach to the youngest, both hunting techniques and ceremony rituals; search, spear and machete uses and ways of camouflaging in herbs and trees.
