Nigerian Modernism - 2

Nigerian Modernism - 2

at Tate Modern.

This is the second post on this exhibition. You can see the first one here . As usual, I am including the introduction from the first one in this post.

 

Nigerian modernism was not a single movement, but a variety of responses to the country's shifting cultural and political identity. Nigeria was established as a British colony in 1914. By this time, prosperous African kingdoms and societies had been profoundly altered by decades of military campaigns and colonial exploitation. Under British rule, artists continued to find innovative ways to express their ideas, histories and imaginations. They embraced and rebelled against the colonial education system. Some created their own art societies and curriculums, while others travelled abroad in search of professional opportunities.

Throughout Nigeria, artists were influenced by Pan-Africanism and European art forms. They also drew inspiration from local cultures. Artistic and religious traditions from the region's many ethnic groups - including Fulani-Hausa, Igno and Yoruba peopoe - met Christian and Islamic practices.

In 1960 Nigeria gained independence from Britain. New artistic and literary clubs were founded across the country, providing spaces to explore the intersections of art, poetry and performance. During this time Nigeria experienced an economic boom, but it also faced a devastating civil war. In the aftermath, artists established new visual languages in their search for a new postcolonial identity.

Ladi Kwali, Shallow bowl, (stoneware)

Uche Okeke, Primeval Beast, 1967 (oil on wood)

Uche Okeke. The Conflict (After Achebe), 1965, (oil on board)

This painting depicts a scene from Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel Things Fall Apart, set in pre-colonial Igboland. In the centre are the egwugwu, ancestral spirits that are part of Igbo masquerade. In the story Enoch, a convert to Christianity, violates Igbo sacred practices by unmasking an egwugwu. Achebe writes: 'The band of egwugwu moved like a furious whirlwind to Echoch's compound and with machete and fire reduced it to a desolate heap. And from there they made for the church, intoxicated with destruction'.

Demas Nwoko, Praise Singer, 1961, (oil on board)

Demas Nwoko, Nigeria in 1959, 1969, (oil on board)

This painting captures the tension and unease between colonical officers and their Nigerian subordinates on the eve of Nigerian indepence. The white officers are shown in various awkward poses, their drawn faces marked by fatigue and disillusionment. Nigerian soldiers, once enlisted to protect the colonial regime, loom in the background, seeming to herald the end of empire.

Demas Nwoko, Night Club in Dakar, 1963, (oil on board)

Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Girl in Front of a Mirror, 1914, (woodcut)

Avinash Chandra, Hills of Gold, 1964, (oil on canvas)

Jimo Akolo, Fulani Horsemen, 1962, (oil on canvas)

Jimo Akolo, Man Hanging from a Tree, 1963, (oil on hardboard)

A figure with a white body and red skull hangs upside down beside a disembodied skull. These figures act as mysterious symbols within an expressive landscape of sweeping gestural brushstrokes. The sudden shifts from black to white, and from red to blue to yellow, convey a dramatic and unsettling mood.

Yusuf Grillo, Drummer's Return, 1983-99, (oil on board)

A group of drummers at the end of a long day. The gangan, or talking drum, can imitate the tone and rhythm of Yoruba speech. It can be used to praise, provoke or recount stories. The figures' stylised forms are given weight through thickly applied paint, while the abstract background, structured with vertical and horizontal lines, evokes the urban landscape of Lagos.

Yusuf Grillo, The Seventh Knot, 1969, (oil on board)

A stylised figure which recalls the African mask forms that influenced Cubist art. Grillo was drawn to the colour blue, influenced by the deep indigo tones of traditional Yoruba textiles and the sombre works from Picasso's Blue Period.

Jimo Akolo, Northern Horsemen, 1963, (oil on canvas)

Jimo Akolo, Hausa Drummer, 1961, (oil on board)

Simon Okeke, Heads of Two Women, 1961, (watercolour on paper)

Bruce Onobrakpeya, Negritude, 1960, (oil on board)

Solomon Irein Wangboje, Portrait of a Man, 1965, (woodcut on paper)

I have to say here, that I found this exhibition very poorly curated and organised.  There were so many paintings where it was impossible to tell who the artist was. I asked the guards (I never know what the people guarding the rooms are called) and they tried, but could not make any sense of a lot of it either. So, I might have attributed some paintings to the wrong artist. Equally, I do not know who the artists of the painting above, or the ones below is. But, I like them, so I have included them.

This and the ones below might be the work of Ubgodaga-Ngu's work. Many of her works capture women traders in market scenes. She was the first Nigerian woman to receive European artistic training.

Efhabor Emokpae, The New Seekers, 1969, (oil on board)

Erhabot Emokpae 

Okpu Eze, Untitled, 1989, (woodcut)

Okpu Eze, (mahogany)

Nigerian Modernism - 1

Nigerian Modernism - 1

at Tate Modern.

Nigerian modernism was not a single movement, but a variety of responses to the country's shifting cultural and political identity. Nigeria was established as a British colony in 1914. By this time, prosperous African kingdoms and societies had been profoundly altered by decades of military campaigns and colonial exploitation. Under British rule, artists continued to find innovative ways to express their ideas, histories and imaginations. They embraced and rebelled against the colonial education system. Some created their own art societies and curriculums, while others travelled abroad in search of professional opportunities.

Throughout Nigeria, artists were influencedf by Pan-Africanism and European art forms. They also drew inspiration from local cultures. Artistic and religious traditions from the region's many ethnic groups - including Fulani-Hausa, Igno and Yoruba peopoe - met Christian and Islamic practices.

In 1960 Nigeria gained independence from Britain. New artistic and literary clubs were founded across the country, providing spaces to explore the intersections of art, poetry and performance. During this time Nigeria experienced an economic boom, but it also faced a devastating civil war. In the aftermath, artists established new visual languages in their search for a new postcolonial identity.

Akinola Lasekan, Iya Agba, 1958, (acrylic on board)

Akinola Lasekan, Yoruba Acrobatic Dance, 1963, (oil on canvas)

Akinola Lasekan, Sacrifice to the Sky-God, 1955, (oil on canvas)

Akinola Lasekan, Ajaka of Owo or Ajaka Owa, 1944, (watercolour and gouache on paper)

Here, Lasekan portrays a king - Ajaka of Owo - descending from the sky. The work references the myth of Obatala, the Yoruba deity who descended from the heavens to create humanity. Lasekan's work connects oral history with realistic painting techniques to highlight the spiritual power of this Yoruba king.

Ben Enwonwu: Ghosts of Tradition:

Ben Enwonwu was the first African modernist to gain international recognition. He created a new visual language for modern Nigerian art, combining his training in Igbo sculpture with his knowledge of masquerade and European artistic traditions.

He was influenced by Negritude, an anti-colonial literary movement that advocated for the importance of Black and African  cultural heritage. 'I know that when a country is suppressed by another politically, the native traditions of the art of the suppressed begin to die out... Art, under this situation is doomed'.

Throughout his life, Enwonwu repeatedly returned to imagery of dancers and masks, inspired by the masquerades of his hometown, Onitsha, in Igboland. Masquerade is a central ritual in Ibgo culture in which masks embody ancestral spirits and mediate between the living and the dead.

Enwonwu's work draws on the Black Mother symbolism central to Negritude. The anti-colonial cultural and political movement provided Enwonwu with a powerful ideological foundation for his work. His art became a tool for affirming the richness of Black African culture. Through his work, Enwonwu created affirmative images that celebrated African values and creative heritage. 'Negritude meant everything. It meant the revitalisation of the African creative force, both in art and in all forms of creativity'.

Ben Enwonwu, Seven Wooden Sculptures commissioned by the Daily Mirror in 1960, (ebony)

Each figure holds an open  newspaper which could evoke wings, a hymn book or a sacred object. With distinct exopressions, postures and gestures, they are arranged in a constellation that evokes a diversity of perspectives. Enwonwu described the group as a 'sort of chorus... almost a religious group... I tried to represent the wings of the Daily Mirror, flying news all over the world'.

Ben Enwonwu, Dancing Girls Yoruba, 1950, (gouache on paper, laid on card)

Ben Enwonwu, Monotony, 1948, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Dancing Girls, 1947, (pastel and gouache on paper)

Ben Enwonwu, Agbogho Mmuo, 1949, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Ugala Masquerace, 1940, (watercolour on paper)

Ben Enwonwu, The Dancer, 1962, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Negritude, 1973, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, African Dancers, 1969, (oil on board)

Dancers, 1987, (oil on canvas)

Anyanwu, (The Rising Sun), 1979-81, (bronze, wood)

Ben Enwonwu, Odu Women, 1990, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Ogolo, 1988, (oil on canvas)

Ogolo, a powerful Igbo masquerade figure often associated with mortality and the spiritual transition between the living and the ancestral world.

Ben Enwonwu, Tutu, 1974, (oil on canvas)

The use of dark tones and the emotional depth conveyed in nthe sitter's expression suggest that Tutu represents the secret image of a nation coming back into the light after a time of darkness.

Ben Enwonwu, Man and his Gods, 1989, (oil on canvas)

Afi Ekong, Olumo Rock, 1960, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Untitled, 1960, (oil on board)

Gerard Sekoto, Profile, 1960, (oil on canvas)

Ben Enwonwu, Woman Weaving, 1947, (ink and pastel on paper)

Ben Enwonwu, The Boxer, 1942, (mahogany)