Long love affair with African art

Li Songshan and his wife Han Rong. Photo provided to China Daily.

Han says, with their exaggerated appearance and sometimes grotesque postures, the sculptures embody the fantasies of artists, and each one is endowed by the artists with different meanings.

"Some say it is hard to understand them, but I think art is about feeling, inspiration and imagination, rather than obscure theories. Every artwork is worthy of appreciation."

The establishment of African Tribe has attracted attention from high-level officials in both China and Africa.

Bernard Membe, Tanzania's minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, attended the center's foundation-laying ceremony in July, 2012. He spoke highly of Li and Han's contribution to introducing African art, especially Tanzanian art, to Beijing and China, and said they are "the real Tanzanian ambassadors to China".

The complex has already received groups of African guests from many countries, most of them officials or diplomats.

"My wife and I feel very happy every time we hear visitors say they felt at home at the center," Li says.

African Tribe is composed of four parts: the African Art Experiencing and Exhibition Hall, African Artist Workshop, African craft shops run by Africans, and the African Makonde Art Institute.

In addition to art appreciation, Li hopes he can cultivate interest among more Chinese people in this particular art form through organizing workshops and seminars, and also expand Chinese people's knowledge of Africa to wider areas, such as politics and the economy.

"We hope through what we have done, we can make African people feel that their Chinese friends respect and appreciate their arts and culture, and it may help them boost self-confidence in their cultural legacy," Li says. "Our ultimate goal is to promote China-Africa friendship."

Prior to the establishment of African Tribe, Li and Han had donated more than 12,000 exquisite African woodcarvings and paintings they had collected from Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and other southeastern African countries to the Changchun municipal government. Then a Songshan Hanrong African Art Collection Museum was built to display the collection, allowing local people a close look at these masterpieces.

The museum is the first of its kind to specialize in foreign art and the collection was the largest donation of foreign art since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Those artworks mean that China now has the largest collection of contemporary Makonde sculptures outside Tanzania.

"To put these works in a museum allows more people to learn about African culture and art," Li says, adding that the public museum can also better maintain the collection.

Li says Makonde carving is an important part of the world's art treasures and, by becoming familiar with it, Chinese artists will be able to use it as inspiration for their own creative endeavors.