In
resolving the bugging issues relating to modern and contemporary Nigerian art,
it is important however to note the differences as well as similarities between
the terms - Modern art and Contemporary Art, and then look at them in the
Nigerian context. Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period
extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and
philosophy of the art produced during that era.
Modern
artists experimented with new ways of seeing and with fresh ideas about the
nature of materials and functions of art. A tendency toward abstraction is
characteristic of much of modern art. This movement actually begins with the
heritage of painters like Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Paul Gauguin, Georges
Seurat and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, all of whom were essential for the
development of modern art. But Contemporary art can be defined variously as art
produced at this present point in time, or art produced since World War II. The
definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums
of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art
produced since World War II.
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| Ceramic sculpture by Ato Arinze |
According
to Dr. Dele Jegede, the erosion of the traditional base of Nigerian culture
through contact with Europeans had set off a metamorphosis in patronage and
artistic promotion. Western education interrupted the traditional
apprenticeship system. Between the 1930s and 1960s, Christianity and a new
social order contributed to the genesis of a new era in Nigerian arts. The
Oshogbo and Oye Ekiti workshops were important watersheds, which led to a new
patronage system, along with the emergence of galleries, new opportunities for
exhibitions, and government-sponsored cultural festivals.
