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Painting depicting a scene of camouflaged paratroopers descending upon a village where four lifeless bodies lie strewn on the ground as the sun sets on the horizon.

Liberation de la Ville de Kisangani (Liberation of the Town of Kisangani)

Tshibumba Kanda Matulu

Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu (often referred to as TKM) was an artist most recognized for his recurring depictions of significant events in Congo’s modern history. In Congo, a market existed for paintings that conveyed specific stories as memory prompts, which were more highly valued than unique creations. TKM had a repertoire of scenes from the arrival of the first explorers to the area through the oppressive Belgian colonial occupation to post-colonial struggles, from which purchasers could select. TKM’s paintings reveal the brutality of Belgian colonialism and its legacy and have, in turn, influenced a tradition of Congolese history painting. His last works were dated 1981 and he has been unreachable since; historians now believe him to be no longer living. “Liberation de la Ville de Kisangani” is lesser known within TKM's oeuvre. Kisangani (referred to by colonizers as Stanleyville and renamed in 1966) is today the capital of the Tshopo province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The incident represented here could relate to what has been referred to as the Congo Crisis or could refer to events in 1966 and 1967, when Katangese forces mutinied against the national Congolese army. The presence of paratroopers descending from a plane labelled “AIR FORCE USA” and a building in the background identified as the National Bank of Congo Stanleyville indicate the international intervention within Congolese history and the enduring colonial legacy.
Artist
Tshibumba Kanda Matulu
(Congolese, 1947 – ca. 1981)
Title
Liberation de la Ville de Kisangani (Liberation of the Town of Kisangani)
Date
ca. late 1960s-early 1970s
Medium
Acrylic on repurposed grain sack
Dimensions
25 3/8 x 17 7/8 in. image
Credit
Gift of Sara Guyer and Scott Straus
Accession No.
2021.25.1
Classification
Paintings
Geography
Democratic Republic of Congo

Related

Likely between August 1973 and August 1975, sold by the artist to Crawford Young (Madison, WI); ca. 2014, gifted by Crawford Young to Scott Straus (Madison, WI); 2021, gifted to the Chazen Museum of Art

  • Crawford Young. "Painting the Burden of the Past: History as Tragedy." Art Pictural Zairos. 1992. 132, fig. 37

This painting depicts camouflaged paratroopers descending upon a village where four lifeless bodies lie on the ground as the sun sets on the tree-lined horizon. In the upper portion of the image, a white airplane marked with an American flag and “AIR FORCE USA” flies through a red and orange sky filled with yellow stars. Below, multiple military figures descend toward the village below, suspended by green umbrella-shaped parachutes. In the foreground, at right, one soldier lands on a garden bed, holding a rifle in their left hand. The center of the painting features two brown buildings with pointed thatched and corrugated roofs, behind which stand tall trees with lush green leaves. Peeking from behind these trees are two tall white rectangular buildings; the side of one displays in black lettering “BANQUE NATIONAL CONGO STANLEY [ville]…”. In the foreground, in front of the village buildings, four lifeless bodies lie on the dirt ground in various positions, all with their arms raised overhead, and red blood spilling from their wounds. One figure in a black suit lies on their back with bent knees, red blood spilling from their chest. Another figure, wearing a long blue skirt and yellow top, lies face up with blood trickling from their head and belly. A third figure, dressed in red pants with black stripes, a crisp white shirt, and black tie, lies on their back with blood dripping from a chest wound. A fourth figure, wearing a blue top and striped pants, lies prone with blood seeping from their head, back, and the stump of one leg, amputated at the knee. White text across the bottom reads in French, "LA LIBERATION DE LA VILLE DE KISANGANI."

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