Antoinette Lubaki

Antoinette Lubaki (Atoinet Lubaki, Atoinet Mfumbi) (Bukama, Congo Free State) (1895-?) was a Congolese watercolourist, and Congo's first known female artist. She is considered one of the forerunners of modern art in Congo, alongside her husband, painter and ivory worker Albert Lubaki and the tailor-painter Djilatento. The Lubakis are thought to be the first artists in Congo to create their works on paper.

Early life Antoinette Lubaki was the daughter of the village chief of Bukama, then in Shaba (Katanga) province, which is why she is sometimes referred to as "princess". She was married to Albert Lubaki, an ivory worker, and they lived in Elisabethville (now Lubumbashi). and noticed the beautiful images made from charcoal, kaolin and clay on the walls of huts in Bukama.

Thiry then transferred the Lubakis' work to Gaston-Denys Perier, an executive officer at the Ministry of Colonies, who was a collector of Congolese art. The Lubakis started making watercolours at night, as cultural practices dictated that no stories were allowed to be told during the day. It is sometimes difficult to make out which of the Lubakis created which art work. Antoinette Lubaki's name was not always mentioned in exhibitions that include her works. Sometimes only her husband Albert Lubaki or only the family name Lubaki is mentioned.

Antoinette and Albert Lubaki are often mentioned alongside tailor and artist Tshyela Ntendu, called "Djilatendo" by Thiry, whom he had met in 1927 in a village in Kasaï in a similar manner to the Kubakis. In 1930, their work was exhibited at the Ethnographic Museum in Geneva and in 1931 at the Galerie Charles-Auguste Girard Gallery in Paris.

The works of Djilatendo, who made mostly geometric motifs and animals, but the Lubakis were not represented. The Lubakis vanished from the Western art world as their backers Thiry and Perier fell out, and false accusations were made that their works were made by a European impostor.

Nothing further is known about Antoinette Lubaki, including her date of death. In 1949, the Lubaki's works were once again present at Geert Van Bruaene's Gallery "L'Agneau moustique" in Brussels, a gallery owner who had an eye for emerging talent. Many of Antoinette Lubaki's paintings and drawings have been lost. 1930: Ethnographic Museum in Geneva. 1931: Galerie Charles-Auguste Girard Gallery in Paris. 1949: Gallery "L'Agneau moustique" by Geert Van Bruaene in Brussel. 2015: Beauté Congo 1926-2015 Congo Kitoko, Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain. 2022: Venice Biennale. 2023: Modern Congo 1930-1960, MAGNIN-A Gallery, Paris.