Luba Hemba Maternity Figure Congo

The Luba excel at the veneration of feminine beauty and motherhood, and much of their skillfully crafted artworks, like this exquisite figure, reflect this ideal. The history of the Luba can be traced back at least 500 years, and they have dominated much of the southern part of the Congo during most of this period. At the height of their expansion, their empire stretched east to Lake Tanganyika. Luba Society is still a large culture, numbering about 1,000,000, and their influence remains significant. While there are dozens of art-producing peoples of Congolese origin who have contributed significantly to the recognition of Central African art, the Luba, along with their closely related neighbors the Hemba, are debatably the most important of them all, with many masterpieces scattered throughout the world. The world's greatest museums and private collections are filled with Luba sculptures, as the beauty of some of their finest pieces transcends those of almost any other African culture. Their impact on the art world has been extraordinary.

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