Johannes Maswanganyi, born in 1949, learned the tradition of woodcarving from his father, starting to make simple functional objects like bowls and spoons from the age of sixteen. This passing of traditions is common among many of the Tsonga people living in the Limpopo area near the borders of Zimbabwe. But for Maswanganyi, more complex, figurative carvings followed his mastery of the region’s craft. After seeing Tsonga nyamisoro dolls, which have removable heads and are hollow inside for the storage of traditional muti, or medicines used for healing, at the Tzaneen Museum, Maswanganyi made his own versions of the doll. His were characterized by a more lively, figurative form than the traditional version. Today, the artist’s nyamisoro figures are found in museum collections.
Maswanganyi is an extremely open man with a strong sense of purpose. His oeuvre features sculptures depicting a wide variety of subjects, from portraiture of political figures to biblical themes to animals. His work is usually embellished with brightly colored enamel paints.
At the age of twenty, following the pattern of young men in the rural areas of South Africa, Maswanganyi left his home village of Noblehoek to “test the waters” of work opportunities in Johannesburg, first finding a job making cakes at a bakery and then working at a brickyard. While doing these jobs, he continued to make carvings. By the time he decided to return to Noblehoek in 1970 to develop his artistic career close to his family, he had already met with prominent Johannesburg gallery owners Linda Givon, Natalie Knight, and Trent Read and had started to exhibit his work through them.
By 2008 the artist, his two wives, and eleven children had built up an impressive art factory at their expansive homestead in Noblehoek. Three of their sons carve, and Maswanganyi has trained his wife Esther to design decorative beadwork in a traditional style.
Although a practicing Christian, Maswanganyi creates works reflecting on both Christian and African traditional religions that he believes have healing powers. And he does not see any contradiction in mixing religious iconographies. He believes that in both traditions it is the faith of the recipient of his carvings that enables the object’s intended healing power. His aim is to convey that people have the right to choose their own spiritual path. In Jesus Is Walking on the Water (1994), a complex large-scale wooden tableau with an assertive Christ figure striding strongly toward the viewer, Maswanganyi expresses a faith in the power of God that is obviously Christian. But in his nyamisoro doll sculptures, he creates objects for the supplicant who puts his faith in the nyanga, or traditional African healer.
Maswanganyi’s broad and humanistic view of the world around him and his constant exploration of new avenues of expression have kept his work alive and vigorous over many decades.
Left to right: D. F. Malan, H. F. Verwoerd, Homeland Leader, P. W. Botha 1988
Wood and paint
Heights: 76 cm, 77 cm, 85 cm, 74 cm
Photographer: Athol Franz
© Johannes Maswanganyi
Jesus Is Walking on the Water 1994
Wood, paint, barbed wire, animal hair
210 x 210 x 170 cm
Collection: Standard Bank
African Art Collection (Wits Art Galleries), Johannesburg
Image courtesy of Wits Arts Galleries
Photographer: John Hodgkiss
© Johannes Maswanganyi