Georges Meurant meets Bonolo Kavula: Atypical encounter inaugurates new series at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts

A shared passion for the textile heritage of Africa unites Belgian modernist Georges Meurant and South African multimedia artist Bonolo Kavula.

‘Collection Meets’ at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) is a new series dedicated to modern and contemporary art at the Brussels institution.

For its inaugural dialogue, Georges Meurant meets Bonolo Kavula is a visually harmonious yet contrasting show that draws parallels between an artist from its vast collections and an invited guest creator. The encounter between a Western painter and a contemporary African artist deliberately overturns the concept of cultural appropriation.

Meurant, who died in 2023, devoted his latter career to powerful colour dynamics: chromatic abstractions and geometric lines, frequently in patchwork form. One major inspiration for the innovative patterning of his paintings and monumental public artworks were the African sub-Saharan textiles that he collected and studied.

It is a major point of convergence with Kavula, who centres her art – intersecting painting, printmaking, drawing and sculpture  – on her country’s emblematic shweshewe fabric. Interweaving South Africa’s culture, identity and heritage via rich visual narratives, the material introduced by northern European settlers is also part of the country’s colonial history.

Born in 1992, Kavula (pictured below) draws on her printmaking studies in making intricate works out of tiny punched discs of the fabric, suspended by delicate threads. The geometric compositions created – echoing Meurant’s experimentation in abstract forms – explore the visual dynamic of print while paying homage to her ancestors.

Two new works tribute the Brussels artist: Ode to Georges Meurant and Color Study. Spurred to venture beyond her usually minimalist palette, the young artist admits: “I’m not usually brave with colour, but he encouraged me not to be afraid of it.”

She has always favoured a minimalist non-figurative style. “When I started as a black, South African woman artist, I was doing abstract work and nobody was picking it up. Where’s the picture, where are the faces, they would ask ...” She continued to produce “what I liked” until winning the prestigious Norval Sovereign African Art Prize proved to be a turning point in her career. Awards, solo and group exhibitions followed, with her works being acquired by private collections around the world.

Success has enabled her to employ assistants for her Cape Town studio, although producing the delicate wall hangings remains a painstaking and repetitive labour of love. “As with printmaking, 70-80% of the process is in the preparation. I then have to be grounded before I come to my art, mentally and emotionally.”

But it also keeps me sane, smiles Kavula, who views her artwork as an ancestral collaboration.  “I don’t make the work by myself, it is a gift that was passed on to me, it’s almost a thanksgiving, an act of gratitude and respect,” she says humbly.

On Meurant’s fascination with African textiles, Kavula comments: "He wasn't just a collector. What interested him was understanding in order to propose something resolutely new. It's about inspiration, not appropriation."

Born in 1948, Meurant was a connoisseur of Congolese Kasai embroidery. Examples from his collection of the province’s famous ‘velvet’ fabric are on display, along with images from one of his most famous architectural commissions. The Europa building in Brussels’ EU quarter features his distinctive polychrome grid designs throughout its spaces, from conference rooms to corridors and catering facilities.

For Pierre-Yves Desaive, curator of contemporary art at the RMFAB, another similarity between the two artists is that their work is difficult to photograph and to be fully appreciated it needs to be viewed both close up and from a distance.

Observed together, the two artists offer a visually exciting illustration of abstract forms in art while invoking the rich historical connotations of African culture.

The museum’s new ‘Collection Meets’ programme, renewed every six months, has a mission to creatively address social issues. It also serves as a preview of an ambitious new art itinerary dating from the 15th to the 21st century that is planned for 2027.

Georges Meurant meets Bonolo Kavula
Until 8 March
Rue de la Régence 3
Brussels

Photos: main image Meurant  Meets Kavula ©Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium/Jelle Van Seghbroeck; Georges Meurant, Sans Titre (2011), courtesy of the artist & Aeroplastics; Meurant Meets Kavula ©Royal Museums of Fine Arts Belgium/Jelle Van Seghbroeck