LUC TUYMANS: Mwana Kitoko (Beautiful White Man) [old book number 20010094A]

Exhibion catalogue, Venice, 10/6 - 4/11/2001. Hardcover, ill. dj, 4to, 135 pp., illustrations. Trilingual E/F/NL. "In his Mwana Kitoko series of paintings Luc Tuymans reflects critically on Belgium’s colonial past. The Mwana Kitoko series consists of 27 paintings which are mainly inspired by the colonial past of Belgium and more in particular by the 1955 visit to the Congo of the very young King Baudouin. The king confirmed with his visit the authority of Belgium over its colony. By the Congolese he was baptized ‘MWANA Kitoko’ or ‘beautiful boy’. The Belgian authorities changed this rather derisive nickname into ‘BWANA Kitoko’ or ‘beautiful nobel gentleman’, a typical example of colonial rewriting. For the Congolese it is furthermore quite unimaginable that a bachelor could be a ‘bwana’. This anecdote clearly illustrates how wide the gap is between the white colonizers and the black colonized." (text by Luc Renders)