RMCA publications

In the wake of independence, the first popular paintings began to appear on walls inside Congolese homes. These works have been called ‘conversation pieces' because they are not so much objects as images whose meaning is not fixed: they are very much open to individual interpretation and as such, invite reflection and debates about everyday concerns.
Often looked upon as a colonial art-form, popular Congolese painting is part of a long pre-colonial history of drawing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In 2013, the Royal Museum for Central Africa acquired some 2000 canvases, collected by professor Bogumil Jewsiewicki and his Congolese colleagues between 1968 and 2012 in 15 DRC towns and cities: Beni, Bukama, Bunia, Butembo, Goma, Isiro, Kananga, Kikwit, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Kolwezi, Lubumbashi, Matadi, Mbandaka and Mbuji-Mayi. It is a major collection in terms of its scale, the number of works and the archives that accompany it, including photographs of workshops, life stories, interviews with artists and chronicles.
This catalogue accompanies the first (eponymous) exhibition that the RMCA is dedicating to this collection (BOZAR, 7 October 2016-22 January 2017).