‘Living Legends’ Portrait and Art Exhibition Honours Yakubu Gowon at 80

I am awed and greatly thrilled by the sheer idea of the ‘Living Legends’ project, especially the just concluded outing in November this year. For four hours General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) sat as a model before a mix of Nigerian artists – young, old and renowned, in one of the meeting rooms of the famous Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja. This portrait session was the fourth in the episodes of ‘Living Legends’ – a series of live portrait sessions in honour of some of Nigeria’s outstanding living personalities especially having to do with the art(s). It first took off in 2008 and is fast aiming to become a global project someday soon.

This recent outing was in keeping with the high standards the organisers have always maintained since its inception; it was also apart from honouring the former military head of state for his outstanding statesmanship, and patronage and support for the arts, at the same time to celebrate the General at eighty. This awesome event was perfectly put together by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in collaboration with Olu Ajayi Studios who are the initiators of this laudable project, and managed by Eki Eboigbe.

The past ‘legends’ to whom this kind of honour has been done include – the erudite Prof Bruce Onobrakpeya, Prof Yusuf Grillo, Omo N’Oba Nedo Uku Akpolokpolo, Erediauwa - the Oba of Benin, Prof Wole Soyinka, and Prof John Pepper Clark Bekederemo. And from the ten artists who turned up, a sizeable number of portraits in drawings and paintings were churned out while the retired General posed.  In the midst of it classical and cool jazz music filtered through from a live bandstand led by Ayo Bankole at the background to soothe the atmosphere, calming the nerves of both model and artists alike.

Issues in Modern and Contemporary Nigerian Art

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.

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.