Tate Modern “modern Nigeria” aims to disrupt the way we think about art history – not only in Africa but globally. Including 59 artists working for a period of 50 years, 300 works of art in the exhibition “Open up and be a problem of what Nigerian identity is,” according to Curator Osei Bonsu. He describes the show as “a real-time cultural restoration” because Nigeria’s modernity was ‘heard of in the footnotes.’ The show corrects that oversight.
Nigeria was a British colony from 1914 to the 1960s, and the exhibition extends from that period into the 1990s. Artists were conflicting with Eurocentric influences throughout, and there is a kind of backlash from the installation of Picasso’s African mask and a broader view of African art as ethnographic. Ultimately, both Pan-African Pride and connected communities continued to persist despite colonial rule.
The first room displays portraiture, including Aina Onabolu’s portraits of Lagos Society Fornity figures. Built in 1955 African man paintings it shows a gentle Yoruba man in a beautiful agbada; Across the room, Ainola Lasekan’s 1957 Portrait of Chief JD Akeredolu he represents the painter of words wearing the same type of dress. Also, amerollu’s thorny amervings are displayed in a vitrine in the center of the room. Interacting with them is the re-creation of Ainola Lakesan’s political cartoons, dark “jokes” about the Regional District and nationalism. In the next room, Ben EnnonWu’s paintings span dancing girls and cunning men – in a kind of realism – which stand in contrast to his seven Igbo-influenced wooden sculptures, which found the room.
Nigeria’s NewFound independence inspired art groups to restore art education with Integration in mind. The Zaria Arts Society, located in the northwest of the country, rebelled against the Eurocentric curriculum; The journal Orpheus Black Orpheus was the result of this thinking, and it is considered bright copies, full of articles and literary criticism that show what the Bonsu need “polyphonic networks.” These magazines are surrounded by works including: Emmanuel Okechukwu Odita’s screen which interprets the pull of traditional clothes in retro and blue forms, Jimo Akolo’s 1962 Fulani Who Handles Horses It includes the three companions of the ASTIDE ASCIDE IN INDISCITE in Green, Pink, Red, and Blue, and Yusuf Grillo’s Moody, Ethereal, and Magnetic Indigo Oils on the board of the female figure. Nearby is Bruce Otobrakpeya’s The fourteen stations of the crossa linocut triptych from 1969 surrounded by 14 prints depicting Christ at the crucifixion and burial among Yoruba Architectural Motifs. At 93 years old, Onobrakpeya was in the media spotlight and in good health.
The room dedicated to EKO – the name of lagos-shows a selection of amazing photos of jd ‘Okhai Ojeikere took in the 1970s: All types of sculptures of women’s hair are set against a white background. There are also vinyl record sleeves for Nigerian Highlife – a genre of music from the 1950s and Rex Latson culture, and Rex Lawson images, and Rex Lawson stores) in the style of modern hot things, dreaming [non-Nigerian] Architects James Cubitt and TP Bennett.
In the assessment of Oshoogbo school, Bonsu notes that “the patience of those without art education,” which these artists do not have. Viewers are introduced to the colorful intentions of NIKE Davies-Okwamulae, Jimoh Buraimoh’s beautiful royal pieces refer to Yoruba Couremonial Cloinis and the Seven Ink Twins of beautiful paintings and ghosts taken from Yoruba Mythrologies.
The exhibition also focuses on ‘ULI,’ a painting tradition from the Northeast of Nigeria, based on natural forms that fell into education among women during this period. Uche Okeke’s 1961 He has a mother [Land of the Dead] It uses bright colors, including yellow, orange and red, to invoke Igbo spirits and is thought to be pontiffs in relation to the loss of the Nigerian civil war in 1967, six years in the future. Oliora Udechukwu’s 1970s-Era Ink Paintings are minimalist, including one example showing a female face with pursed lips, a nose ring and his woodwork, but he worked in 1993, Our trip In ink and acrylic, it is very large and visible, attractive with a long yellow swirl. This work is placed next to wooden sculptures decorated with traditional paintings made by Ghana-Old El Anatsui, who taught at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka since 1975.
The exhibition concludes with a room dedicated solely to UZO Egonu, a bold painter who lived in Britain from the 1940s until his death. You have a modern European wonder and an Igbo scar on a symbolic / unusual topic. In addition to the calm scenes of a woman reading or two friends between the hair, the paintings of “people” of artists “, artist, writer, author) reunited here for the first time in 40 years.
In the novel Every day a thief is a thiefNigerian-American writer Teju Cole writes about the protagonist’s enjoyment of finding music and a bookstore while visiting Nigeria. When he poured their donations, he thought, “And that’s just one word for what I feel about the new members of the Lagosia scene: They are signs of hope in a limited place, in need of hope.” The same can be said about this show.
