The Modernist Implantation in Nigeria:
Aina Onabolu and Kenneth D. Murray
Map of Nigeria depicting the various ancient cultures
Head,
2500-800 BP
(500BC-200AD)
Nok Culture
Terracotta
Stylized naturalism
Triton shell, Igbo Ukwu, Leaded bronze, 1100BP (900 AD)
Skeumorphic representations
Roped Vessel on a stand,
Igbo Ukwu,
Leaded bronze,
1100 BP (900AD)
Head of an Ooni
(used in annual ritual of renewal)
Ife, (Yoruba) Nigeria
Leaded Brass (Zinc brass)
800-500 BP
Idealized naturalism; youthfulness
ephebism
Figure of an Ooni in ceremonial regalia
Ife (Yoruba) Nigeria
Leaded Brass—Zinc Brass
800-500 BP
Emotional proportion
Head of a ritual specialist,
Ife (Yoruba) Nigeria
Terracotta
700-500 BP
Inner/outer beauty; functionality
Ogboni Couple
Ijebu Yoruba
Brass
19th century
Symbiotic relationship; umbilical chord
Osugbo Doors,
Ijebu Yoruba
Wood,
19th/20th century
Visual metaphors
of Power
Warrior Chiefs, Benin, Bronze Plaque,
400-300 B.P, 18.7/8 in
Social and emotional proportion
Palace Messenger,
Middle Period,
Benin
Bronze, 25 in.
Portuguese Soldier,
Plaque Period,
Benin
Bronze
British Marines amidst their
Loot from the Punitive Expedition
Of 1897, Benin.
Modernism within the province of European art
From 19th-20th century
Modernity; newness; freshness; change; industrialization; disruption
Modernist transplantation in Africa—new idiom; easel painting
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, oil on canvas, 1907
Epa,
Yoruba, Nigeria
Wood, pigments
20th century
Painting the head of an infant
In the ritual of
“knowing the inner head”
Orisa Priestess with painted forehead
Sacred painting on the façade of a shrine in Ayegunle-Ekiti, Nigeria
Oluorogbo shrine painting
Ile Ife, Nigeria
Uli shrine wall at Nri, Igbo, Nigeria
Aina Onabolu
Barrister
Oil on canvas
1920s
Aina Onabolu,
Portrait of a Man
Watercolor on Board
1955
Joshua Johnson—Portrait of a Gentleman, oil on canvas, c. 1805-1810
Supposedly Rev. Daniel Coker of the AME; limner tradition
Joshua Johnson, “In the Garden”
Oil on canvas, c. 1830?
The Limner Tradition
Commissioned Portraits
Status
-characteristically flat, plain or dark background
With little attention to details
Subtle modulation of tones
-Liner approach connected to British/Dutch tradition
Frontal Approach/frontally placed—looks directly at the audience
Flowing drapery, ¾ view
Proportions contradicts the academic canon of ratio 1:7