Art with Fight in It

With a contribution from Christophe Gudijiga and Sindani KianguThis article investigates a Kwilu Pende statue of a Belgian colonial officer (Fig. 1) through the combined perspectives of historical events, an unusual wealth of relevant documentation, and technical analysis. Its origin stems from the chance encounter now more than forty years ago by which Herbert Weiss, a political scientist and student of protest movements in the Congo, was able to acquire the work and learn the identity of the subject. More recently, examination by curator Richard Woodward and conservator Kathy Gillis at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts revealed a series of extraordinary channels—carefully planned and executed in the freshly carved green wood. These discoveries prompted further investigation and dialogue by Weiss, Woodward, and Z.S. Strother, a scholar of Pende art history, in wrestling with understanding this unusual work and seizing a rare opportunity to recover a fragment of African art history.I arrived in the Congo in December 1959 with the task of studying the independence struggle that had begun in earnest early that year. I researched three political parties among the many that existed, but finally focused on the Parti Solidaire Africain (PSA) because its leaders trusted me more than the other parties did and even allowed me to photocopy its files (Weiss and Verhaegen 1963). The PSA was very successful in mobilizing the Pende, the Mbuun, the Mbala and many smaller ethnic groups in the Kwilu District east of Leopoldville/Kinshasa (Weiss 1967). It became a partner in the alliance led by Patrice Lumumba that won the May 1960 elections and formed the first government on the declaration of independence on June 30, 1960.1 PSA President Antoine Gizenga—a Pende—became Deputy Prime Minister, and Cleophas Kamitatu, the man who had been responsible for the successful mobilization of the Kwilu population, became governor of the huge Leopoldville Province.Tragic events galloped one after the other immediately after independence was established—the army mutinied, the richest provinces seceded, the UN sent a peacekeeping force and, most important, the Congo became an arena of Cold War competition. The result was the assassination of Lumumba in January 1961 (Gerard and Kuklick 2015) and the expulsion of his allies from leadership positions (CRISP n.d.a). Some joined the new US-supported government, some went into exile (CRISP n.d.a), and of those, some returned just three years later to start a revolution (CRISP n.d.b).One of the continuities in Pende history is severe oppression, determined protest, devastating defeat, and repeated resilience. Until recently, they were overwhelmingly a rural people. During the independence struggle, the PSA was led by urban elites and mass support naturally came from the rural grass roots. The Pende tendency to protest manifested itself in the fact that followers were often more aggressively opposed to the whole colonial system than their leaders. It is a phenomenon that I called “rural radicalism” (Weiss 1967).2 This pattern follows the earlier Pende Revolt of 1931 that is discussed in this article and yielded the remarkable sculpture that is its main focus.My attention was drawn to the significance that the 1931 Revolt bore for later events while I was conducting field research in the Kwilu in 1966 and 1972. In 1972 a man in Gungu approached me with two interesting Pende figures. Both were old. One was a beautiful female figure (Fig. 2). The other one clearly represented a white man wearing some sort of uniform (Fig. 1). I didn't have enough cash on me to purchase both so I left the figure of the white man behind, but not before taking a couple of photos and inquiring about its origin. I was told that it represented the white man who was killed in 1931 and that it had been placed in the clan's house for sacred objects. That was a clear reference to the Pende Revolt. I was further told that it had been made because people thought all whites had been chased away for good and they wanted the children to know what they looked like.3I had a friend in Belgium who had a family member working not far from Gungu who agreed to look for the figure. By a small miracle, he found it, bought it, and brought it to a village in Belgium, where I was able to buy it from him. In the meantime, I learned the identity of the man who had been killed. He was an administrator, Maximilien Balot, and his death was intimately connected to—indeed was the spark that started—the Pende Revolt. For a political scientist, this was a rare case of a work of art contributing fresh evidence to the history of Congolese anti-colonial protest.Balot's death in Kilamba, a village not far from Gungu, on June 8, 1931, did indeed ignite the Pende Revolt. The investigating magistrate, Jungers, who was later sent to examine both the causes of the revolt and its repression, recounted the events that led to this moment:Burnotte demanded that the local chief furnish palm nut cutters. This meant that they would have to leave their homes, wives, and children and spend months in forest camps climbing up palm trees, cutting the fruit and carrying heavy loads to roadside collection points—all for extremely little pay. The village men refused the order and thereupon fled from the village. In response, Burnotte had most of the women arrested. He then ordered messengers (low-level Congolese assistants) to confiscate anything of value—chickens, pigs, goats, etc. Burnotte then heard from other HCB agents that they were also unsuccessful in recruiting palm nut cutters from another village. In this case they had not fled and he had them flogged. When other HCB recruiters joined him in Kilamba they started a drinking session. One of the HCB recruiters—Collignon—had one of the arrested women brought to him and forced her to have sex with him. She was the wife of a man named Matemo a Kelenge. Neither an administrator nor an employee of a private company had the legal right to do any of this, but they were white. The women were released after three days.Some days after these events Matemo dared to confront Collignon at the HCB factory and demanded compensation—a traditional Pende way of dealing with such matters and all he could ask for under the circumstances. Collignon refused, slapped Matemo, and a brawl ensued (the exact sequence of these events is unclear). Matemo was badly beaten by some HCB staff and ran away with his clothes almost completely torn off. “For his part, Collignon had the gall to lodge a complaint [with the Administration] in Kandale against Matemo, without breathing a word about what had taken place at Kilamba” (Marchal 2008:149). It was in response to this complaint that Territorial Agent Maximilien Balot was ordered to go to the village to investigate the charges and collect taxes (Marchal 2008:149).Balot arrived in Kilamba on June 8 accompanied by a single soldier and some messengers. He was met by Matemo, supported by some thirty men. Matemo challenged Balot to hit him. Balot ordered the soldier to fire in the air, but the Pende did not disband. Balot then fired his hunting rifle and wounded a Matemo supporter. Thereupon, Matemo hit Balot with a knife or machete and arrows were shot at him, killing him. His body was dismembered and the pieces were distributed to the chiefs of several did the death of one Belgian administrator result in a have been the that the Pende the and, the of an among the Kwilu in Belgian but by the Pende a the that the whites could chased from the of the Both at the or even the the or of movements all the Belgian Pende were in the Kwilu and and in the early colonial had under the of the The to on the Kwilu Pende in to after it had in other of the In the demanded a in to forty of work for but in fact whole were to go in the for at a to collect the The and women to The Pende were and often refused to leave their to for their this them into an in they had to a and the way for Kwilu Pende to was to collect The for of determined by the or In a member of a Belgian the Kwilu was very more have been killed than in the years immediately War the of in the Congo because of from it was War The of palm nut had This was the to a most of the Kwilu the HCB a system for the collection of palm to for their the Pende, more than some of their which to taken to work camps for three months at a in these camps were very and was In the was and both the and the without The most of the Congolese their pay. In without the by HCB would not have to it anything an HCB in forced the of the hit the Kwilu The for palm was from to but the was to had to of to (Marchal the revolt with of the was the of Belgian their and in Some also even were almost were in the of This for the it that the whites would of The were led by Matemo, the of the now an in the The revolt from the Kwilu Pende to some and In all these were and with in that the would them for of African 1931 in the also some even they with and the several to an the most of this is the fact that Belgian were the order not to all the pieces of body had been were but far from all (Marchal Belgian and that some Congolese but the is and many of them were to the of of a wife was the colonial in the Congo had been almost from from for the Pende Revolt and the it brought to in attention and The result was the to a magistrate, Jungers, to the Kwilu to investigate what In this the a rare to the of for or most of were not two Pende that Herbert first in 1972 were to other in his I them in Both were by Z.S. in her Pende, in which the of a taking the of a colonial and it with other in at the of the Pende Revolt (Fig. The statue of Balot and the to the for the Pende in dealing with their the of on art from for of in or in a or even some in many were for colonial first the statue of Balot came both from of Pende such the female figure that had in Gungu, and from other of The and of the (Fig. a and from other colonial The of the immediately to from the Pende of with and the of this work (Fig. The is and it is also The of the the of and the and The work is It is not a of a colonial but one that by the the subject. they so with Pende to the of the and at to a of is their most of the colonial a is in of the the Pende and the Belgian and private that many years and with the killing that led to the of this The clan's of the Balot statue from the to the that it was not an of at not years later of the people had and other more such the for to children to that the to Herbert the of the I it the in the and and a I also the into the right of the that through body and right at the this is with the and of the figure. It the of the sculpture in a this the of the and it the and the right and it through the of the (Fig. 1). it been further the could have the figure without the and The of the statue also small or and some by and not unusual with African In to a of the or were in the (Fig. and in and these have from a and not from and was the figure months after opportunity itself to both in an at the Virginia Museum of Fine Herbert agreed to both and with to that Kathy of at the Virginia Museum of Fine and I examine the about the and of the examination in the revealed that the statue had been to a and series of after it was while the was Kathy Gillis and I started with the most the which is about in (Fig. and through the sculpture from to The through the in the and right In the a had been into this of which the and and in the two of the revealed more of the than had been Some in in such in the of an and the where an the where the figure is or the and at their of and Kathy Gillis started investigating the by a to the and the of the in the This would about the of the and its of and about the of the the to hit an the but it did were without an to the a was and in two on first the from the other of the were with the in the to the figure. The the of the of the that could a of with the More and the revealed that all the in the and in the in with that the were planned and executed than (Fig. that the had also been The of the in this the of the them to of the through the revealed a about the of all the the of the right had been by the that all through the were not in but were through the of the This the of the through the and at the from a the revealed that all the this at not were the small but all through the through an The (Fig. the through the at and they through the were able to the all the way through of the with did not force the through two that but they also go all the way with the to the of the it it the of some of the to the by the of the it was through the the in the figure by the of the the the right determined that the were made while the was left on both of the of this that the was before it from (Fig. the been after the it would not have left an where the of this also that the to the had then a to an the exact of the in order to a clear of the The (Fig. the the is that it while through the of the in a several of the of the (Fig. for the sculpture is a in many of the Pende is and to It is to and is for such and and and for not had to a freshly of in order to it with the its and with which been that in this is the is fresh and the before it from is to and is in the and in and the in the and about the and their several with the placed were the in with such at the three that all of the were made by the in one and then in the other and than by left in the that any one would through the by other in the was it to the statue at the in the and were able to through the at the (Fig. The made but could by other at the to their the Pende very into the made by the The to this a on the I a planned series of In the of the sculpture what could and the discoveries made that this or any work of art from a that investigation of the and in that with other that have revealed with and and for of the to what with the statue of Balot is that in to an of a colonial the figure was carved in response to the to furnish a work for another this statue is not of art to colonial but art that in and the figure of Balot and a new on the of the the colonial with the man Maximilien Balot had a history both and in the a in he had in a in the Belgian army and to a to he a officer in the and in the against the in the of his he was to the of in and with them after his he was to the where he would have Congolese to work in the Balot a from the agreed that he had good was in in his a good agreed that he was an and had the to a or some into colonial The the soldier with 1) his with in the with and with or not the was able to 1) and In response, his that Balot had a good was and and his returned to colonial in at the of his family to him a in the Balot in for on leave in the Kwilu and was on 1931, by District who him for good and and him in he did not him for The man by the was now in His him with clear for days in the field the which was clearly a May 1931, Agent Burnotte by for left on and Balot him in Kandale His first was to investigate the of by Collignon against Matemo a and to collection at his it was for Balot to repeated from Congolese and his first the and the Belgian colonial to an of and the of The Pende figure the of and in the of the administrator in the of a at with and to his the in the of the of his his to the and of a more Pende figure Pende often men who they to on a the look Pende a of to through the of the to this men who by have a which their and white. in of they at with to represented the Territorial Agent (Fig. His is and The is from Pende but the the of the figure so that it to in a Woodward the is by a a is in the of the The of the with a called The from and who about a who it is that the is his and to the a the Pende have for of art to to in sculpture is to a of Maximilien Balot taken a of his death (Fig. which him with and with of and on his left The is Pende have found that an was on his Balot figure is a in is a by a with or the of a to for a is for a to the of a statue and, among the Pende, chiefs which one that they have a where the chief a him, and The of another to and In the a new of from the which a in the Pende Revolt (Fig. in it a with white and and but the Balot figure from the where the work also to a historical The statue have been made in the people that they had the and for the to the of the through the by Woodward and found in the of to (Fig. the man who to killing the but it was not the that the of the body was among or more is a and to a man without a a such a colonial to and he would have Balot men in the of a who with and often with from the is who a of in killing a a a a The of the is cutting the with a single his that the and the from the In it was this that him a Pende its significance He was to of it he was arrested. In his he had with and he had been with in order to the of to the was During colonial was for Pende chiefs to of killed in at the of a chief the his and then to the of a in a single that the the of a The that the his that Balot was the opportunity of the into a of his the it that shot Balot from the on the left of his so that the came the man shot him in the after he had to This came the right of his Balot and a man shot him through his right so that the came the left The that Balot was shot at three arrows from three the from the and from the right is it that three arrows the without The of Balot was killed have and that it was in the Balot was brought by three but three is a in Pende the a but of that it men to Balot, Matemo who the first of the statue also three and (Fig. It is to the on the of the body of the statue a reference to the man was shot through from the statue was from on three to the of who have against the for by and allowed to into a with a of this a of that the The of and the from It is that the of the figure both the of death and was a history for among the Pende but other of body were distributed to a of was and could to by from in that also to some of force a to their a historical to for their in a the were to more than of the body and that were after death was and the made after the In any do not with the of the represented the of of the of the about the of the or the of the the of events, in family to the other been so that they the the the to and the for the figure is the Belgian was not by and would have good for the his would have to to from into that the through the figure a made for When of body were distributed to they have been for The do not of this but it is a what was the of the figure the of the man but on The of a of the figure from to (Fig. Balot was shot through by three arrows on the of the what is about these is that they all with the from on the of the and the in Pende were through the in with their to the In the case of or the would often the of the by them through with a which through the that this was so that the would not have the to and to to the or have their before they placed in a in order to their in his and he is forced to his and to his He at attention and is by the to his He is the of the statue a to the to and to it to for the discoveries of Woodward and Gillis a that the statue of the colonial officer a The to the of the work could other The work a for and that force had to and the which to its that it a in which the to their the by the The who the statue of Balot the by to the of the and to the of to a of to their the work evidence on the of and the of it was not to such to a work 2). the of and the with which they were executed and from about the of for the Pende Revolt was about and its a of that was even by the of the early The many not all Pende and of groups joined they and the colonial a force against the that to the Revolt had a repeated to a of protest and Pende which traditional leaders were of Pende to came the independence This the of the Pende and all ethnic groups in what was then the Kwilu District with them under the leadership of the Parti Solidaire was almost without the of force was months after independence in 1960 Prime Lumumba and his several PSA from years the Kwilu became the first arena of what became the revolution in The of the Kwilu was an and PSA The Kwilu the support of the and the Pende but to its the Kwilu and to with the they the the of the President Gizenga—a from exile and the leadership of the Kwilu He became the of the that became This in Pende for several of the Pende Revolt also The who the were sent into and forced to work in on were finally allowed to to their in and to Verhaegen this with the of a new the In this to the Its the PSA the Kwilu rural in this also was at the of about what independence would to their the of of the Pende in 1931 that the would their with they had the whites from their this the was for the Kwilu were and to them to the of the Congo by this a opposed the of to the but that did not the with the Kwilu in the earlier Pende the the of rural The figure Maximilien Balot is a remarkable to this, the while new of and by the Pende the colonial the of response to their circumstances

Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · Object (grammar · Officer · Power (physics · Statue · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · History

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