Africa Quarterly April-June 1961: Vol 1 Iss 1
HARSIMRAN MALIK
Art in Nigeria today is passing through a period of adaptation, of experimentation, of rediscovery. In the past, Nigeria’s greatest contributions to world culture were its arts of wood carving and bronze casting and masks – its traditional arts, which in the early twentieth century influenced European painters including Vlaminck, Derain, Picasso and Modigliani, who found in these art forms a strength of creativity which made the representative conventions of European art seem rigid and sterile.
But in Nigeria today, as in so many other countries which have only recently regained their political freedom, there is going on an intellectual struggle between the many who feel that the traditional arts should be repudiated as reminders and remnants of archaic, backward ways of life, which must give way to completely new and better ways, and the comparatively few who recognize the value of ancient traditions in helping to build a stable and sound modern Nigeria.
Any country dominated by western colonialism inherited this appreciation of western art and literature, carefully nurtured by the colonial rulers at the expense of the indigenous cultural heritage which they considered, and taught, to be inferior, although in most cases it was more ancient and advanced than the foreign.
To counteract this invidious product of colonial rule there is the strong new nationalism from which springs a powerful desire to create art forms which can express in a special way the national genius. And here again, “in Nigeria, which achieved its independence last year, traditional arts are once more finding their place as an integral ingredient of the national character.
Nigerian art is not merely a “museum art”; it is a living art, used in rituals that have come down through the ages. The traditional arts of wood carving and bronze casting have their homes chiefly in the lands of the Yoruba and the Bini. Yoruba wood-carvers were employed by the chiefs and by the priests of traditional cults to carve masks and figures for ceremonial dances, and to decorate the doors of palaces. Scenes from Yoruba life are represented in these carvings and kings and mounted warriors and hunters stalking bush animals can still be seen on magnificent old doors in Ekiti country.
Benin, in the land of the Bini, was the traditional centre for the guild of brass workers whose figures impress the modern viewer with their strength and compactness. Heads of Obas, the tribal chieftains, cast in bronze, were ceremonial objects that were placed on the altars of deceased Obas. Famous deeds of the Oba were commemorated by relief plaques which were then nailed to the square pillars of their palaces.
The danger today lies in the fact that traditional artists may entirely disappear for lack of patronage. The priests are too poor and the chiefs have moved into new cement houses where wood carving and bronze casting no longer find any place. Consequently, many carvers’ families have taken up carpentry in order to live and both carvers and casters have gone into the tourist trade for which they make copies of famous traditional works. In either case the standard of art is bound to deteriorate.
Fortunately, local demands still keep the craft alive in some places. In the eastern regions of Nigeria, masquerade dances take place at festival and holiday times and for these, local artists produce masks which are frequently caricatures or comical carvings of local figures and professions. Recently, the head of the Benin brass workers produced two brass plaques commemorating the visit of Queen Elizabeth to the city and presented them to the Oba.
One of the most serious and successful efforts to preserve traditional arts and to help the artists has been made by the Catholic Mission of Nigeria. In the small Yoruba town of Oye-Ekiti, the Mission has carried out an important, artistic experiment. Oye-Ekiti has an old and rich artistic tradition, and a number of young carvers were assembled there by the Mission. No attempt was made to convert them to Christianity, nor were they forbidden to work for the village priests or tribal chiefs. They were merely encouraged to carve representative scenes from Christian history after being told the story of Christ and the ideals for which he stood. They were not shown any European paintings or sculptures.
The results were most interesting. These young carvers, immersed in the ancient traditions of the Yoruba, produced faces and figures of dignity and serenity, strangely reminiscent of the early Romanesque European art. Today many village churches of Ekitiland are decorated with carved doors and altar-pieces, the work of these traditional artists. Critics may argue that these carvings, pleasant as they are, lack the strong definition and intensity of the old masterpieces which owed their inspiration to a deeply rooted religious feeling, but no one would deny the importance and value of the experiment which has provided new work for the carvers as well as given them a new social prestige.
As mentioned earlier, architectural wood carving was an old tradition of both the Yoruba and the Bini. Gradually this tradition is being revived. The doors of the Catholic Chapel of the University College, Ibadan, are carved with traditional Nigerian motifs. In the Western House of Assembly in the same city, Yoruba artists have decorated the President’s chair and desk with carved panels. The new National Hall in Lagos, the national capital, is the work of a young artist, Felix Idubor whose style and technique are influenced by his art studies in Europe. His carving has a simplicity and beauty of its own and while the themes are pure Nigerian, the execution appears to be a successful blend of the ancient tradition and the new techniques.
Nigeria’s changing social and economic patterns in the last three decades have also produced a new and an interesting art form-the cement sculptures, which are very popular with the Yoruba in western, and the Ibibio in eastern Nigeria. This art form is the creation of the newly emerged middle class, whose recently acquired wealth and power demand status symbols which will in no way encroach on the traditional ways of the Obas.
This wealthy middle class built for themselves a type of house known as the “Brazilian” house, a form of architecture introduced by repatriated slaves from Brazil. The houses are double-storied, often made of mud, coated with cement, decorated in rococco fashion with balustrades, balconies and ornate window-frames. Guarding the entrance or decorating the facades are the cement sculptures. These lions, elephants, soldiers, many originally inspired by heraldic designs seen in Brazil, show no visible connection with traditional art and are, in fact, created by brick-layers, not by the carvers. This is purely decorative art, flamboyant and gay, with no serious purpose. In Ekiti country, these cement sculptures decorate the new palaces of the chiefs, replacing the ancient, more sophisticated carvings.
The Ibibio people use the cement sculptures for another purpose, that of decorating their funeral monuments. The countryside resembles a tremendous outdoor sculpture museum. Figures of seated or standing men or women on high pedestals-some surrounded by their entire families, some on horseback-are a familiar sight. These monuments are a blend of the ancient custom of the “second burial” ceremony with the new Christian influence, and are an expression of a spontaneously developed folk art.
Another very different example of folk art is advertising art. In this field, a new profession “sign writing” has come into existence. This has its roots in the ancient mural paintings found in some Yoruba shrines but more frequently in eastern Nigeria in the Ibo country. Here, wall paintings, with semi-traditional themes, were part of architectural decoration. Even in present times, painting is very popular in village schools in this part of the country; often pupils decorate their school-houses with their work.
The modern Nigerian “sign-writer” is not an art student. His schooling is often elementary, his training in art non-existent. This gives his work a freshness and vigour which is most attractive. His creative ability covers a wide range-traders’ signboards by the roadside, bar interiors in Lagos and other cities, barbers’ signs with vivid illustrations of the various types of haircuts available, portraits of public figures. Every town in the country has its collection of small wooden huts near the main road where the “sign-writers” live, exhibit samples of their work and take commissions.
They also help to make the Nigerian roadways gay and colourful, for they decorate the lorries with elaborate mottoes and benevolently smiling heraldic lions which resemble the stylised cement lions of the Brazilian houses. In some places, local cinemas use the “sign-writers” talents and advertise the current films with chalk drawings on a blackboard. This is contemporary folk art with a vigorous personality.
Contemporary artists in any developing country face many difficulties. When a nation urgently needs hospitals and schools and dams, the demands of the artist are inevitably pushed into the background. In addition, there is the unavoidable conflict, already referred to, between new western art influences and the old classical traditions. In traditional African society the artist was an essential member of the community. Today that is not so. He has to make a place for himself. In Nigeria, as in many other countries, the artist has to struggle to express himself as an individual, and at the same time make himself comprehensible both to his European public who admire traditional African art and expect him to express himself through it, and the Nigerian middle class who have grown away from tradition to an appreciation of the more old-fashioned schools of European art.
Most contemporary Nigerian art artists have a different background from the traditional carvers and bronze casters. A few of these traditional artists have succeeded in developing individual styles and have successfully made the transition from traditional craftsmanship to individual creative work. One of these is Yemi Bisiri, a Yoruba brass-caster. He uses the traditional wax method of casting, but his figures for the ancient Ogboni society reveal a highly individual style and show great vitality and movement. He is constantly inventing new forms and modifying his style, instead of merely copying the traditional figures.
Idah, a carver from Benin, is another who has developed from the traditional to new techniques. He is an extreme individualist who lives inside the ancient city wall in a house built by himself and decorated with cement sculptures of men and animals which are his creation.
Both of these two men have received only the traditional training. The younger Nigerian artists, however, have studied and exhibited in London, Paris and New York. Two of them, Ber Enwonwu and Felix Idubor, are already well known outside Africa; they are amongst the pioneers of modern Nigerian art.
Ben Enwonwu, who now holds the post of Federal Art Adviser, works in a variety of styles. His sculptures, which can be found on many public buildings, show very well the conflict within the artist himself. Some of these works are conventional; for instance, the statue of the Queen in front of the Federal House of Representatives. But others, like his bronze statue “The Awakening” outside the Nigerian Museum in Lagos, show individuality and beauty and seem to be a true expression of the artist’s original creative talents. But even this work shows the basic conflict between the modern and the conventional. The movement of the figure, the rise of the body in a graceful sweep, is modern and almost an abstraction of movement, but the hands and the face, though beautiful, are more conventional. Ben Enwonwu’s long mystical figures in wood are perhaps the greatest expressions of his personality and thoughts.
The same conflict is found in his paintings, some of which are routine landscapes rich with colours. Others, such as his series “Africa Dances”, have a rhythm and power of movement which are almost bizarre, and yet fascinating. To see them is an emotional experience, as the painting of them must have been. But this artist still has to come to an understanding, a balance within himself, between Africa and Europe.
The work of Felix Idubor has already been mentioned. His wood carvings show the influence of his European experience, but although they are far different from the traditional, they are Nigerian in essence and executed in a personal style which seems to be a successful marriage of the old and the new.
Another young sculptor, Festus Idehen, creates works in cement.
There are an increasing number of talented young artists in Nigeria, and most of them will have to go through the same difficulties, the same conflicts, which are perhaps inevitable for all artists with ancient traditions in this age of modern art. Eventually, as is also inevitable, those with genuine creative talent will make their mark.
Several European artists are identified with the artistic life in Nigeria.
John Danford, of the British Council, created the first public work by an European in Nigeria-the bronze statue of Emotan, the national heroine of Benin. This is, however, a conventional piece of European sculpture. Of greater interest, because of its modern conception, is the Crucifixion mural in the Catholic Chapel of the University College at Ibadan, the work of Mike Pilcher, a young British artist. But neither Pilcher nor Danford identify themselves or their artistic expressions with either traditional or contemporary Nigerian art forms.
Only Suzanne Wenger, an Austrian painter, whose home for the past nine years has been a Yoruba village, shows the influence of her environments. Not only has she learned the Yoruba language, but she has studied their religion and philosophy and understands the basis of the traditional arts. She interprets Yoruba myths and expresses herself through “adire”, the Yoruba batik technique. Yoruba women decorate their wrappers with this work. Suzanne Wenger has adapted the technique for the creation of wall hangings which relate the Yoruba myths, through batik figures. Her work is not only admired in European art circles, but proves its understanding of Yoruba traditions and its kinship to them by its popularity with the village people, who in some cases have commissioned the artist to decorate their shrines.
As Nigeria develops economically, as more and more of her artists go abroad for study and artistic experience, as new ways of life replace the old, the traditional art forms will undergo even greater changes. For to be creative, to invoke understanding and to evoke appreciation and enjoyment, art must be attuned to the tempo of the times, must in some way express the mental climate of the nation, be it active and optimistic as in Nigeria today, or stagnant and dull as it has been in the past in other countries.
The conflict between traditionalism and modern ideas will continue. There will be a revaluation of the old, perhaps followed by its absorption by the new. And in the end, a new creative contemporary Nigerian art will emerge.
