Lumumba in the Arts
Edited by Matthias De Groof
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Edited volume - paperback
Léon Tsambu (Université de Kinshasa) parle de Lumumba en musique (RFI, 17-01-2021)
Lumumba as a symbol of decolonisation and as an icon in the arts
It is no coincidence that a historical figure such as Patrice Emery Lumumba, independent Congo’s first prime minister, who was killed in 1961, has lived in the realm of the cultural imaginary and occupied an afterlife in the arts. After all, his project remained unfinished and his corpse unburied. The figure of Lumumba has been imagined through painting, photography, cinema, poetry, literature, theatre, music, sculpture, fashion, cartoons and stamps, and also through historiography and in public space. No art form has been able to escape and remain indifferent to Lumumba. Artists observe the memory and the unresolved suffering that inscribed itself both upon Lumumba’s body and within the history of Congo. If Lumumba – as an icon – lives on today, it is because the need for decolonisation does as well.
Rather than seeking
to unravel the truth of actual events surrounding the historical Lumumba, this
book engages with his representations. What is more, it considers every
historiography as inherently embedded in iconography. Film scholars, art
critics, historians, philosophers, and anthropologists discuss the rich
iconographic heritage inspired by Lumumba. Furthermore, Lumumba in the Arts offers unique testimonies by a
number of artists who have contributed to Lumumba's polymorphic iconography,
such as Marlene Dumas, Luc Tuymans, Raoul Peck, and Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, and
includes contributions by such highly acclaimed scholars as Johannes Fabian, Bogumil Jewsiewicky, and Elikia M’Bokolo.
This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).
Introduction by Matthias De Groof – The Iconography of Patrice Emery Lumumba
PART 1 – LUMUMBA IN HISTORIOGRAPHY: FROM BÊTE NOIRE TO BEATIFICATION
Isabelle de Rezende – History as Spectacle
Jean Omasombo Tshonda – Lumumba, a Never-ending Tragedy and the Unfulfilled Mourning Process of Colonisation
Pedro Monaville – A History of Glory and Dignity: Patrice Lumumba in Historical Imagination and Postcolonial Genealogies
Christopher L. Miller – Patrice Lumumba and the Past Conditional: The Virtual Reality of a Martyr
Elikia M’Bokolo, interviewed by Julien Truddaïu & Matthias De Groof – The History of Patrice Lumumba’s Historiography
GALLERY SECTION
PART 2 – ICONOGRAPHY OF LUMUMBA
Cinema
Matthias De Groof –
Lumumba in Cinema
Raoul Peck – It’s About the Image
Karen Bouwer – Lumumba entre deux
genres: Peck’s Filmic Diptych
Rosario Giordano – The Masks of the
Savage: Lumumba and the Independence of the Congo
Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda, interviewed by Matthias De Groof – Imagining Lumumba
Theatre
Piet Defraeye – Lumumba on Stage: X Times
a Murder
Photography
Mark Sealy – Picturing Lumumba: Framed in
Colonial Time
Poetry
Mathieu Zana Etambala – Tributes to
Patrice Lumumba in the Poetry of the American Continent, 1961-1966
Comics
Véronique Bragard – Between Communicative
and Cultural Memory: The Figure of Lumumba as Decolonial Counterpoint in
Nicolas Pitz’s Comics Les Jardins du Congo (2013)
Music
Léon Tsambu – The Figurative
Representation of Lumumba in Popular Music
Gert Huskens and Idesbald Goddeeris – Lumumba
in the Hood: The Legacy of Patrice Lumumba in Rap Music since 1990
Painting
Bogumil Jewsiewicki
– A Congolese Hero to the Oppressed
Peoples of the World: Lumumba, from Christlike Martyr to Guide for the Future
Tshibumba Kanda Matulu and Johannes Fabian – Conversations
Marlene Dumas and Luc Tuymans, interviewed by Matthias De Groof – My Pauline and Your Patrice
Public space
Pierre
Petit – Official Miniatures: The Figure
of Patrice Lumumba in the Global and the National Contexts
Julien Truddaïu – Representing
Lumumba (1956-1961): The Twists and Turns of Belgian Colonial Propaganda
Robbert Jacobs – Down Lumumba Lane
Piet Defraeye – Lumumba’s Bike: A
Rhizomatic Walk in the Park
Epilogue by Matthias De Groof – Shilatembo
Contributors
Bibliography
Index
Colophon
Format: Edited volume - paperback
Size: 285 × 195 × 35 mm
464 pages
3 colour sections
ISBN: 9789462701748
Publication: January 17, 2020
Languages: English
Stock item number: 133016
Grâce Ndjako, de Nederlandse Boekengids, september 2021
Lotte Arndt, « Matthias De Groof, Lumumba in the Arts », Critique d’art [En ligne], 4 juni 2021, URL : http://journals.openedition.org/critiquedart/61611 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/critiquedart.61611
Aan Lumumba is alles onaf, dus overleeft hij in de kunst
Matthias De Groof maakte in een nieuw boek 'Lumumba in the Arts' een vrij compleet en genuanceerd overzicht van hoe hij bleef verderleven in schilderijen, strips, films, theater, literatuur, maar ook in postzegels of monumenten. [...] In de kiem gesmoorde beloften en gefnuikte hoop zijn de dominante thema’s in deze iconografie, met een ondertoon van verlies en rouw.
Marc Reynebeau, De Standaard, vrijdag 17 januari 2020
Lumumba is vooral na de jaren zestig uitgegroeid tot een iconische figuur, vergelijkbaar met vrijheidsstrijders als Che Guevara en Martin Luther King. De Groof stelt zich tot taak om de diverse iconografie in kaart te brengen. [...] Het verzamelde materiaal en de diversiteit in de iconografie van Lumumba in het tweede gedeelte zijn overrompelend.
'Lumumba in the Arts', edited by Matthias De Groof, provides multidisciplinary analyses of Patrice Lumumba’s life and legacies through a remarkable range of art and media in a beautifully illustrated volume that will benefit both scholars of Congo and undergraduates alike. This is a momentous book in every sense of the word, totaling twenty-two chapters written by twenty-five contributors in addition to an extensive gallery section, and numerous photos, poems, paintings, and songs. Part of what sets this work apart from previous analyses of Lumumba and his legacies is that it includes contributions from artists as well as scholars. Established scholars of Congo and Lumumba, such as Jean Omasombo, Karen Bouwer, Johannes Fabian, Bogumil Jewsiewicki, and Elikia M’Bokolo, make important contributions, but we also hear from artists like Tshibumba Kanda Matulu, and Luc Tuymans, as well as perhaps Lumumba’s most famous biographer, filmmaker Raoul Peck.
"voorbeeldig geïllustreerde boek 'Lumumba in the Arts', samengesteld door de Antwerpse filmwetenschapper Matthias De Groof. [...] dat prachtig het midden houdt tussen een diepgravende academische studie en een catalogus voor een hopelijk ooit te maken multidisciplinaire tentoonstelling."
Buelens, G., BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 135(2). > https://www.bmgn-lchr.nl/articles/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10883/
Der interdisziplinäre Sammelband bietet eine der umfang- und facettenreichsten Sammlungen an kulturellen Dokumenten, Künstlerinterviews und wissenschaftlichen Aufsätzen, die sich mit der Ikone Patrice Lumumba beschäftigen, und leistet einen wertvollen Beitrag zur afrikanistischen IkonographieForschung. Dem Herausgeber ist es dabei außerordentlich gut gelungen, namhafte Beitragende aus verschiedenen kulturwissenschaftlichen Disziplinen in einem sehr anschaulichen Opus magnum zu vereinen.
By
discussing the rich iconographic heritage bequeathed to us by Lumumba and by
reflecting on the different ways in which he is being remembered, we do not
only answer the two questions that guided our work, but hope equally to
contribute to this imagery by making his absence more present, though without
laying his legacy to rest.
Matthias De Groof, Africa
Is a Country, July 2020
"Not on a filmmaker, yet centered around one historical figure, "Lumumba in the Arts" engages with the iconography of independent Congo’s first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba. Next to his representation in public space, theatre, photography, poetry, comics, music and painting, the publication includes a large part on cinema with five texts, written by, among others, filmmaker Raoul Peck and Matthias De Groof – a Belgian film scholar/filmmaker who edited this anthology and also interviewed painters Luc Tuymans and Marlene Dumas for it."
Sabzian, Ruben Demasure, https://www.sabzian.be/note/new-book-releases-spring-2020
On a donc là une recension importante, sinon exhaustive, de la représentation de Lumumba en héros de la lutte anti-coloniale.
Marc Lenot, Blog Lunettes Rouges sur l'art, 8 Mars 2020
Congolisation, un Festival pour décoloniser le regard
Radio Libres, Ensemble