The Illustrated Nondon News, July 27, 1957
FELIX IDUBOR born in Benin City, in the western region of Nigeria, in 1928, the eldest son of an Edo farmer. At the age of eight Idubor began to carve, and since he was twelve he has been earning his living by his carving. He has received little formal education, and until he came to Europe this year no artistic training. The forty or so pieces which Felix Idubor is showing in his most interesting exhibition at the Imperial Institute, South Kensington, which continues until July 28, prove convincingly that he is an artist with exceptional and consistent natural talents. He is an impressive and likeable man with a sincere belief in his art and in the traditions from which it has developed, and it is to be hoped that his contact with Western sculpture will not divert him from the more fitting path of native Benin sculpture which he has so far followed with such success. Idubor works entirely from memory and without preliminary sketches. He is a skilled carver, making the fullest use of the grain and texture of his woods. Last year he was awarded a U.N.E.S.C.O. Travelling Scholarship to study in Britain and Europe. Since coming to this country he has received instruction at the Royal College of Art, and has again proved his natural gifts by the sensitive strength of his modelling.
