LEMA KUSA, Kinkenge, Bas-Congo, 1944 Lot n° 39

Untitled (Les porteuses). Oil on canvas. 65,5 x 53. Signed, dated 1970, framed. Lema Kusa was a former student of Fine Arts in Kinshasa, where he became a professor and director of the Graphic Arts Department. His paintings are often realistic and sometimes abstract, depicting everyday life with the subconsciousness of a photographer. Women are the prominent figures in his work, portrayed as mothers, wives and children whom men must love at all costs and protect from violence. In addition, he creates paintings that are strong and moral. Kusa's work contains paintings of drunkards, prostitutes, market figures, beggars and idlers with a strong expressionist palette and a distinctive and subtle humor. His various works are remarkably vivid, colorful, symbolic and sometimes abstract.