Wole Soyinka
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Visual Art Appreciation in Nigeria: the Zaria Art Society Experience
Mgbakoigba, Journal of African Studies. Vol.6 No.2. February 2017 VISUAL ART APPRECIATION IN NIGERIA: THE ZARIA ART SOCIETY EXPERIENCE Chinyere Ndubuisi Department of Fine Art, Yaba College of Technology, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria [email protected] 0802 3434372 Abstract There is no doubt that one of the greatest creative impetuses injected into Nigerian art was made possible by, among other things, the activities of the first art institution in Nigeria to award a Diploma certificate in art, Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST). NCAST started in 1953/54 at their Ibadan branch but they could not rationalize their art programme ab initio but organized art exhibition to raise the public awareness of the programme. In September 1955 the art programme became a full department and relocated to their permanent site at Zaria, in northern Nigeria, with 16 students. This paper focuses on NCAST impact on modern Nigerian art and the gradual, but steady, growth of other art activities in Nigeria since NCAST. The paper also discusses the emergence of an art society from NCAST, known as Zaria Art Society and the extension of the philosophy of the Art Society into the church by one of its member, Bruce Onobrakpeya, who represented most of his Christian images in traditional Urhobo style as against the popular western style. The paper argues that Nigeria has a rich art and diverse culture which existed long before the colonial reign and thus encouraged the efforts of the Zaria Art Society in re-appropriating local forms and motifs in their modern art by way of an ideology known as 'Natural synthesis.' Introduction The argument may be how one can define 'culture' in the context of the diverse ethnic groups that populate present-day Nigeria. -
Izibongo Issue 60
IZIBONGO Celebrating Art in Africa and the Diaspora Issue 60 - 2018 Saluting Ben Enwonwu including review of Ben Enwonwu: The Making Of An African Modernist by Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie Natty Mark Samuels Editorial Every public figure, especially a pioneering one, will have their detractors; so it was with Ben Enwonwu. But what is undeniable, is his massive contribution to Modern Art - and the mastery of the materials he used. I pay homage to this truly trailblazing figure, in Saluting Ben Enwonwu, which is a revised version of a previous work, entitled Song for Ben Enwonwu. Revised, in that a few verses have been added and words and sentences here and there, have been changed. This issue also includes The Necessary Song, my review of Ben Enwonwu: The Making Of An African Modernist, by Professor Ogbechie. Here's what the featured artist says about Anyanwu, one of his great offerings in bronze... “My aim was to symbolise our rising nation. I have tried to combine material, crafts and traditions, to express a conception that is based on womanhood – woman, the mother and nourisher of man. “In our rising nation, I see the forces embodied in womanhood; the beginning, and then, the development and flowering into the fullest stature of a nation – a people! “This sculpture is spiritual in conception, rhythmical in movement and three dimensional in its architectural setting – these qualities are characteristic of the sculptures of my ancestors.” From Nigeria, I am happy to present to you, BEN ENWONWU. Editor – Natty Mark Samuels – africanschool.weebly.com – An African School Production Saluting Ben Enwonwu©Natty Mark Samuels, 2018. -
Speaking from the Middle Ground: Contexts and Intertexts
1 Speaking from the middle ground: contexts and intertexts In 1954 a graduate, one year out of college, was recruited to the Talks Department of the Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS). By the age of twenty-eight, he was one of the most powerful media professionals in Nigeria. Before independence in 1960 he had established a second career as a fiction writer with the international publisher Heinemann – in due course, his first novel alone would sell an extraordinary ten million copies. Sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, he celebrated his thirtieth birthday by embarking on an international tour that would help to establish him as one of the most influential voices in contemporary world literature. How should Chinua Achebe’s spectacular rise to prominence be understood? In Nigeria in the 1950s, the cultural field was undergoing profound, multidimensional change, as practices, values and assumptions previously taken for granted by producers and consumers in the media and the arts were rapidly redefined. With the systematic withdrawal of the British from public institutions, opportunities presented themselves to that first cohort of Nigerian graduates that must have seemed incred- ible to their parents’ generation. In this sense, from a historical point of view Achebe arrived on the scene at precisely the right moment. In broadcasting, the process of ‘Nigerianisation’ that preceded independence had produced an urgent demand for young, well-educated, home-grown talent, in exactly the form he exemplified. At the same time, in international publishing, decolonisation posed major challenges for big companies such Morrison_Achebe.indd 1 26/05/2014 12:03 2 Chinua Achebe as Longman and Oxford University Press. -
Rethinking, Re-Theorising the Concept of Modernism in Painting and Its After-Effect on African Contemporary Art Discourse
Mgbakoigba, Journal of African Studies. Vol.5 No.2. June 2016 RETHINKING, RE-THEORISING THE CONCEPT OF MODERNISM IN PAINTING AND ITS AFTER-EFFECT ON AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY ART DISCOURSE Ikemefula Emmanuel Irokanulo Department of Fine Arts Yaba College of Technology, Yaba Lagos State Nigeria [email protected] +2348034267433 and Amaka Nwosu Department of Industrial Design Yaba College of Technology Abstract This paper explores both the European and African concepts of Modernism and its modernity in painting. The idea is to re-examine and re-theorise the understanding of this concept with a view to finding out its true import and impact on the contemporary art scene, especially that of Africa. The works of two African artists are reviewed and discussed excluding the painting of Paul Cezanne which has birthed this argument. Finally one of the authors introduces his own paintings to help buttress their position and the theorisation of personal understanding of Modernism in painting culture. The paper concludes by advancing a re-theorisation and understanding of the concept of modernism in Africa, so that a new understanding could be realised in developing new awareness of what Modernism stands for within contemporary African art discourse. Key words: Modernism, Contemporary art Discourse, Paul Cezanne, Re-theorise, Re- thinking Background to the Study According to Irokanulo (2014), the basic characteristic of the European modern period was its emphasis on science and technological advancement because of the industrial revolution sweeping across Europe in the nineteenth century. It was also a period of theoretical assertions. Gardner (2005) advances that most of the developments in the sciences and social sciences have their roots in this period. -
Weathering the Storm: Ben Enwonwu’S Biafrascapes and the Crisis in the Nigerian Postcolony
Weathering the storm: Ben Enwonwu's Biafrascapes and the crisis in the Nigerian postcolony Article (Published Version) Lecznar, Matthew (2018) Weathering the storm: Ben Enwonwu’s Biafrascapes and the crisis in the Nigerian postcolony. Tate Papers, 30. ISSN 1753-9854 This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/79781/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse: Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University. Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Research Publications Tate Papers Tate Papers no.30 Weathering the Storm: Ben Enwo… TATE PAPERS Weathering the Storm: Ben Enwonwu’s Biafrascapes and the Crisis in the Nigerian Postcolony MATTHEW LECZNAR This article appraises Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu’s contribution to postcolonial modernism in Nigeria through an analysis of his artistic responses to the Nigeria-Biafra war (1967–70). -
Retailing a Forgettable Tale Akin
IVERYBODY WAS having a lunchrime drink in a bar in Kampala, Uganda one hot afternoon in November 1961. Then a 22-year-old man with a big head and lots of hah- entered, his arms saddled with copies of a new magazine he was trying to sell. As the hawker wended his way to a table, an angry Englishman bolted from the din of the afternoon, dashed in his way, snatched one of the magazines from him and ripped it in shreds. He couldn't have stopped at that. 'That's what I think of your trash!' he spat at the young man. In the Lugogo Retailing a Forgettable Akin Tale Adesokan Black Orpheus & Transition revisited Sports Club, another venue in taking his first shot at marketing, this reaction the city where the journal was was enough intimidation. ButRajatNeogy, the being peddled to members of a young man, was not an appretice hawker, not even an accomplished one. The journal he was jazz club, the manager vending, Transition was his brainchild, an threatened to eject the club for idea he had taken so seriously he staked his allowing what someone also personal convenience for it. He had returned called 'nasty left-wing to Uganda a year before, just married, with literature'. a degree in political science, with the intention For a prospective newspaper vendo of introducing his wife, a Swede, to his parents, African Quarterly on the Arts Vol.11 NO 5 take her round Kampala, then head for wanted from her was straightforward, journal and been impressed by its success. -
File Download
Fashioning the Modern African Poet Nathan Suhr-Sytsma, Emory University Book Title: Poetry, Print, and the Making of Postcolonial Literature Publisher: Cambridge University Press Publication Place: New York, NY Publication Date: 2017-07-31 Type of Work: Chapter | Final Publisher PDF Permanent URL: https://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/s9wnq Final published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781316711422 Copyright information: This material has been published in Poetry, Print, and the Making of Postcolonial Literature by Nathan Suhr-Sytsma. This version is free to view and download for personal use only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © Nathan Suhr-Sytsma 2017. Accessed September 25, 2021 6:50 PM EDT chapter 3 Fashioning the Modern African Poet DEAD: Christopher Okigbo, circa 37, member of Mbari and Black Orpheus Committees, publisher, poet ; killed in battle at Akwebe in September 1967 on the Nsukka sector of the war in Nigeria fighting on the secessionist side ...1 So began the first issue of Black Orpheus to appear after the departure of its founding editor, Ulli Beier, from Nigeria. Half a year had passed since the start of the civil war between Biafran and federal Nigerian forces, and this brief notice bears signs of the time’s polarized politics. The editors, J. P. Clark and Abiola Irele, proceed to announce “the poem opening on the opposite page”–more accurately, the sequence of poems, Path of Thunder – as “the ‘last testament’ known of this truly Nigerian character,” reclaiming Christopher Okigbo from Biafra for Nigeria at the same time as they honor his writing. -
A Portrait J.P. Clark Was Born at His Maternal Grandmother's Home in the Urhobo Village of Erhuwaren on the 6Th of December
A Portrait J.P. Clark was born at his maternal grandmother’s home in the Urhobo village of Erhuwaren on the 6th of December 1933 into two old Izon families, Bekederemo and Adomi, of Kiagbodo, now in the Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State, Nigeria. After his early education at the Native Administration Schools, Okrika and Jeremi (Otughievwen), in the western Niger delta, he went on to Government College, Ughelli and the University College, Ibadan, both by entrance examinations, as a Government Scholar and State Scholar. The poet, playwright and scholar early showed his genius and calling in life. At Ughelli, distinguished for sports and scholarship under the legendary V.B. V. Powell, he earned himself a reputation for reading every English literature title in the school library, and so his next principal, Major Cyril Carter, kindly allowed him the use of his personal library as he received new titles from the Readers’ Union in London. But it was at Ibadan, where Clark read English, that the bud bloomed into the flower that immediately caught the eye of the public. He became editor of the Students’ Union magazine The Beacon, and then, most significantly, the first editor of The Horn, the poetry journal at the University College, Ibadan, that launched modern Nigerian poetry in English. It introduced Christopher Okigbo and Wole Soyinka, Clark being the major contributor. His poem Ivbie, on the wrong of imperial power, beginning with the slave trade, created a great stir among staff and students. Others like Abiku, Agbor Dancer, Fulani Cattle, Ibadan, Night Rain, Olokun, Streamside Exchange and The Water Maid, were recited at sight across faculties on the campus, later becoming favourites in anthologies. -
Positioning Nigerian Modernism
POSITIONING NIGERIAN MODERNISM On the occasion of Ben Enwonwu’s Centenary (1917–1994) 28–29 September 2017 1 FOREWORD We are delighted to be able to present this major international conference at Tate Modern, which will reconsider the origins and socio-political underpinnings of modernism in Nigeria and West Africa more broadly and the legacy of some of its key proponents. One hundred years after the birth of pioneering Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, a resolute defender of the value of African culture internationally, it is timely to emphasise the contributions of artists active in the years before and after decolonisation and reconsider the context in which they were working. This conference seeks to address issues around the formation of post-colonial identity, the preservation of history and the impact of transnationalism and decolonisation in art criticism and museum collections today. We were overwhelmed by the response we received to our open call for papers. The breadth and depth of research being undertaken by colleagues around the world is exciting and encouraging. Art histories are being written and re-written and we are honoured to be able to bring together scholars from major museums and academic institutions in Nigeria, Germany, Austria, the United States and the United Kingdom who are at the forefront of rethinking modernism. We hope that this conference will provide a platform for ideas to be shared and for the discourse to be developed further. We are extremely grateful for their collaboration. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions of Oliver Enwonwu, Sylvester Ogbechie and Neil Coventry whose tireless work over many years has informed our own. -
Nkiru Nzegwu
May 28, 2021 NKIRU NZEGWU CURRICULUM VITAE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS Department of Africana Studies, Binghamton University. Telephone: (607) 777-2635: Email: [email protected]. CURRENT STATUS SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Africana Studies, Binghamton University. Professor Extraordinarius, University of South Africa, UNISA, School of Transdisciplinary Research and Graduate Studies. EDUCATION Ph.D. University of Ottawa, Philosophy (Aesthetics), 1989. ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS Member, Board of the State University of New York Distinguished Academy, 2020-. Member, University-wide (SUNY) Advisory Council on Distinguished Professorships, 2019-2021. Distinguished Professor, Department of Africana Studies, 2019- Professor, Department of Africana Studies, 2011-2019. Professor, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, 2011-2019. Coordinator, Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture (PIC), 2014-2017. Chair, Department of Africana Studies, 2007-2010. Professor, Department of Africana Studies and PIC, Graduate Program, 2005-2011. Chair, Department of Africana Studies, 2003-2006. Associate Professor, tenured, Department of Africana Studies and Philosophy, Interpretation, and Cul- ture (PIC), Graduate Program, 2001-2005. Associate Professor, tenured, Department of Africana Studies and Art History, 1998-2001. Associate Professor, tenured, Department of Philosophy and Art History, 1996-1998. Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Art History, 1990-1996. INTERNET EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE Africa Knowledge Project, 2010- A publishing and distribution platform of five academic, peer reviewed, indexed, journals and an ar- chive devoted to the study of global Africa. This digital platform is managed by an administrator. For information and details about the journals go to https://www.africaknowledgeproject.org/. West Africa Review – (commenced 1999). JENdA: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies – (commenced 2000). Ijele: Art eJournal of the African World – (commenced 2000). -
Some Errors in the Article Glendora
The African e-Journals Project has digitized full text of articles of eleven social science and humanities journals. This item is from the digital archive maintained by Michigan State University Library. Find more at: http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/ Available through a partnership with Scroll down to read the article. 'Some errors in Artist Obiora the article in Udechukwu with Ulli Glendora Nr3' Beier Nigeria and actually pres- ing in schools. I had little con- lished an Indian poet. People I H E sured me to ask him to write tact even with the staff of the thought contacts across bor- I heard of Peter this piece! University. The only expatri- der lines and cultures. And a Benson's work on the magazine is a good vehicle ate teaching in Nigeria who AsforMartinEsslin:hewasat subject was when he was helpful in this respect for that! the ti me the authority on Brecht sent me the completed was Gerald Moore. There and the Theatre of the Absurd thesis to read. He was, of course, the vast The trouble seems to be: Akin in Britain- in fact in Europe. If never interviewed me archive of Janheinz Jahn to Adesokan has obviously made Nigerian playwrights wanted and I have never met draw on. Remember that his a thorough study of Peter to be performed in Britain him. My letter may anthology of African poetry Benson's book and other sec- (and they did!) why should have been a response (in German) appeared in ondary sources. (Congratula- they resent a review by a to that thesis - but it 1 954! Otherwise most of the tions on a good piece of re- British critic? Or are you im- was obviously too late authors found me. -
International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Research
International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Research Vol.2, No.2, pp.15-35, May 2016 ___Published by European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org) IMPACT OF VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION ON LIVELIHOOD SUSTENANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: THE ART WORKSHOP EXPERIENCE Dr. Ayo Elebute1 and Mashood, O. Shagaya2 1Department of Mass Communication, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Nigeria 2Department of Industrial Design, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, Nigeria ABSTRACT: The focus of this study is basically on the impact that vocational and technical education has on livelihood sustenance and Economic development in Nigeria, using the art workshop training centres as a case study most especially the one established by the Nigerian foremost printmaker: Bruce Onobrakpeya in his home town at Agbarha-Otor, in Delta State of Nigeria. The vocational and technical education opportunities were divided into three broad categories the first is the training offered in private institutions under the entrepreneurship programmes, the second is the training established by governments through formal tertiary institutions such as: the Polytechnics and Colleges of Education and the third is the training sponsored by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private individuals and/or religious organizations-the art workshop experiments organized in Nigeria at Oye-Ekiti, Osogbo, Ile- Ife, Lagos and Agbarah-Otor fall under the last category. It has been observed that the non- payment approach adopted by the organizers under the third category has been making vocational training programmes more effective, efficient, competitive, flexible and responsive in any community where they are being organized. The conclusion is that the organizers of vocational/art-workshop centres in Nigeria have been focusing on how to satisfy the basic physiological needs of the participants while training, mentoring and motivating them for self development and self fulfilment.