Nigerian art boasts a rich history and diverse styles, reflecting the country's complex cultural landscape. From ancient sculptures to contemporary expressions, Nigerian wall art encompasses a wide range of techniques, materials, and themes. This article explores the history and styles of Nigerian wall art, highlighting key figures who have shaped this vibrant artistic tradition.
The northern and southern parts of Nigeria can be considered part of the western Sudan and Guinea Coast, respectively; but, because of the wealth of evidence for an artistic tradition of some 2,000 years, it is convenient to consider Nigeria separately.
Ancient Traditions
Nok Culture
The earliest-known sculpture of large size in the Sudan is the ceramic art of the Nok culture, which flourished extensively in northern Nigeria from the 5th century BCE into the early centuries CE. These people were the first known manufacturers of iron in western Africa, furnaces at Taruga having been dated between the 5th and early 3rd century BCE; they continued, however, to use stone tools.
Their sculptures, of well-fired clay, represent animals naturalistically; human figures, however, are depicted with heads that are cylindrical, spherical, or conical. The subtractive technique used to create these objects suggests the presence of a significant woodcarving tradition. The art of Nok indicates the antiquity of many basic canons of West African sculpture, but the precise relationship between ancient and modern forms is obscure.
Nok Terracotta Head
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Daima and Sao
Not far from the Nok area but very different in style, at Daima near Lake Chad, small, simple clay animal figures were by the 6th century BCE being made by a population of Neolithic herdsmen. A little later they began making animals with more extended legs, and sometime after 1000 CE they started to make animals covered with little spikes. The last are similar to examples found on sites of the Sao culture in the Chari valley, Cameroon, where more elaborate human figure sculptures, thought to represent ancestors and probably spirits, have been found. Carbon-14 dates for these sites range from the 5th century BCE to the 18th century CE.
Ife and Yoruba
The Yoruba peoples inhabit a large part of southwestern Nigeria. Their art traditions are of considerable antiquity. Excavations at Ife, in central Yorubaland (the site of the creation of the world in some Yoruba myths), have shown that naturalistic sculpture in brass and pottery was being produced sometime between 1100 and 1450 CE. The sculptures may represent royal figures and their attendants, and life-size portrait heads in brass were perhaps used as part of funerary effigies.
Brass Head of an Oni ("King") of Ife, 14th-15th century
Throughout Yorubaland, human figures are represented in a fundamentally naturalistic way, except for bulging eyes, flat, protruding, and usually parallel lips, and stylized ears. Within the basic canon of Yoruba sculpture, many local styles can be distinguished, down to the hand of the individual artist. Individual cults too have their own characteristic requirements of form and ethnography.
Typical of Ekiti is the Epa cult, which is connected with both the ancestors and agriculture. The mask proper, roughly globular, has highly stylized features that vary little; but the superstructure, which may be 4 feet (120 cm) or more in height, is often of very great complexity-for example, a king on horseback, surrounded by two tiers of attendant warriors and musicians. The most widely distributed cult is of twins-ibeji-whose birth among the Yoruba is unusually frequent. Their effigies, made on the instructions of the oracle, are among the most numerous of all classes of African sculpture.
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Carved doors and house posts are found in shrines and palaces and in the houses of important men. Fulfilling purely secular functions are bowls for kola nuts, offered in welcoming a guest; ayo boards for the game, known also as wari, played with seeds or pebbles in two rows of cuplike depressions; and stools, spoons, combs, and heddle pulleys.
The city of Owo, to the southeast of Yorubaland near the frontier with the Edo-speaking peoples, developed an art style-indeed, a whole culture-that is a blend of Yoruba and Benin traditions. Ivory carving is especially important, and wooden heads of rams and of humans with rams’ horns are used on ancestral altars. Excavations in 1971 revealed a large number of pottery sculptures that are clearly related to those of Ife but with some Benin features. The site was dated by carbon-14 to about the 15th century CE.
Edo Peoples
According to tradition, the kingdom of Benin was founded from Ife, whence, in the late 14th century, knowledge of brass casting may have been introduced into Benin City for the manufacture of commemorative heads for royal altars. The brasses also include figures in the round, groups on a common base, and plaques. The rectangular shape of the plaques, their narrative content, and in some cases their attempt at perspective have been attributed to the influence of illustrations in books carried by the Portuguese, who were in contact with Benin from the late 15th century. The technique of brass casting, however, had been introduced at least a century earlier.
Head of an Oba, brass sculpture by Edo brass artists in the court of the kingdom of Benin, 16th century
Cult objects (such as memorial beads) were made of wood when intended for nonroyal purposes but of brass for the king. Regalia, if made for the king, were of ivory but otherwise of brass. The regalia of the king and chiefs also included coral beads and red cloth, the color red signifying a mystical threat to the enemies of the kingdom.
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Thousands of objects from the kingdom of Benin were plundered by the British army during its violent invasion in 1897. Collectively known as the Benin Bronzes, the pieces were distributed among members of the expedition, donated to the British Museum, London, and sold to offset the costs for the siege.
Ijo
The Niger delta is occupied by Ijo fishermen, whose masks for the cults of the water spirits are made in the form of aquatic animals, especially the hippopotamus and crocodile. All Ijo sculpture exhibits a four-square schematic style that contrasts starkly with the relative naturalism of surrounding styles, such as those of Yorubaland or Benin.
Nigerian Modernism
Nigerian Modernism is finally gaining international recognition with a major new exhibition on the movement opening at Tate Modern on October 8, 2025. “Nigerian Modernism,” curated by Osei Bonsu and Bilal Akkouche, will explore the evolution and shifting trajectories of the art movement.
Nigerian Modernism doesn’t have a clear beginning date, though it is generally understood to apply to works made between the 1940s and the early ’90s. A striking combination of factors were at play: Nigerian artists working during this period experienced the growing anti-colonial sentiment in the country, as well as the spread of Western art instruction. They were united by attitude: a desire to define themselves on their own terms.
By the 1940s, the first set of formally educated Nigerian artists emerged, after training with Western art instructors who had arrived in the country. In 1958, a growing spirit of national independence led to the founding of the Zaria Art Society. These artists rejected outright the Western bent of their lectures and insisted on incorporating indigenous work. They fused Igbo traditional design, such as curved uli forms, with experiments in abstraction and Surrealism.
When Nigeria gained its independence, this national spirit came to a fever pitch. Artists all over the country felt it was necessary to define the culture of their new nation. After the end of Nigeria’s civil war in 1970, it was time for an artistic rejuvenation. Artists like Uche Okeke and Chukwuanugo Okeke compulsively produced textile works during this period, reasserting the ideals of freedom that had been crucial to the earlier modernist movement.
The 1970s also saw Nigerian artists looking elsewhere for new ideas: rather than colonial powers, they looked to the global Black diaspora. This intermingling of Black ideas from around the world culminated in FESTAC ’77. This major international festival of Black art took place in 1977, a monthlong celebration of Black culture that put Nigerian Modernism in the spotlight for an international audience.
Typical Characteristics of Nigerian Modernism
One of the main ideas of the Zaria Art Society was “natural synthesis,” referring to the merging of traditional indigenous Nigerian elements and modern Western practices to produce a brand-new artistic form. This definition came to embody Nigerian Modernism and can be seen across works of different mediums. Nigerian Modernism was not just defined by the style of physical objects produced but by an attitude. And a component of that was a spirit of rebellion.
Key Figures in Nigerian Modernism:
- Aina Onabolu
- Akinola Lasekan
- Justus Akeredolu
- Twins Seven-Seven
- Yinka Adeyemi
- Jimoh Buraimoh
- Rufus Ogundele
- Muraina Oyelami
Women Artists in Nigerian Modernism
There were many women artists who played key roles in Nigerian Modernism. However, they often did not receive their due. Textile and bead artist Nike Davies-Okundaye, for example, was never formally allowed to become a member of the Osogbo school.
Important Nigerian Modernist artists like the painter and art teacher Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, ceramist Ladi Kwali, and Davies-Okundaye are all featured in the exhibition.
Leading Figures in Contemporary Nigerian Art
A short exhibit about the leading figures who contributed to the development of art in Nigeria during the last century.
Ben Enwonwu (1917-1994)
Ben Enwonwu at work
Ben Enwonwu (MBE, NNOM) is a first generation Nigerian painter and sculptor who, being the first Nigerian artist to gain international recognition is arguably Africa's most influential artist of the 20th century. Ben Enwonwu broke race barriers and was the first African to be admitted into August exhibition spaces in Europe and the United States. He was also the first African to be listed in international directories of contemporary art. He was born on the 14th July 1917 and died in his sleep at his Lagos residence on the 5th of February, 1994.
With his Western training in art, he subsequently taught art in many post Independence schools in Nigeria and abroad. Generally held to be an Impressionist in style, his works are characteristically indigenous. He discouraged the labeling of African Art and worked towards its international acceptance.
The University of Lagos also elected Ben Enwowu as its first University fellow in African Studies. In 1969, Ahmadu Bello University awarded him an honorary Doctorate degree (D.Litt) for his writings on art. In 1971, he became a visiting artist to the Institute of African Studies at Howard University, Washington D.C. That same year, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) appointed him Nigeria's first professor of Fine Art, a post he held until 1975. In 1980, he was awarded the Nigerian National Merit Award for his contributions to art.
In this artwork, Enwonwu welds indigenous notions of power to political demands for black empowerment. The vibrancy and movement of the figures represents Enwonwu's accordance with the inherent philosophies of the Negritude philosophy: emancipation and celebration of the Africans and their land. This work expresses the present state of neo-African culture, which includes Enwonwu's heritage of indigenous Igbo and Nigerian art, his formal academic training and his transitional modernist practice, insights acquired from his analysis of European Modern art, and influences derived from his engagement with rhetoric of Senghor's Negritude.
Ben Enwonwu died in 1994, but his legacy continues, resting on his forging a philosophical basis for Contemporary Nigerian art by fusing Western techniques and indigenous traditions. He is remembered as one of the most prominent African artists who helped create an international visibility of African Art in all media, wood bronze and painting.
“I will not accept an inferior position in the art world. Nor have my art called African because I have not correctly and properly given expression to my reality. I have consistently fought against that kind of philosophy because it is bogus. European artists like Picasso, Braque and Vlaminck were influenced by African art. Everybody sees that and is not opposed to it. But when they see African artists who are influenced by their European training and technique, they expect that African to stick to their traditional forms even if he bends down to copying them."- Ben Enwonwu
Bruce Onobrakpeya (born 1932)
Bruce Onobrakpeya
Bruce Onobrakpeya, born in 1932, is one of the Nigerian artists best known internationally. He has been described by some as a ‘living legend’ who has contributed significantly to the renaissance in contemporary art in Nigeria. His career as an artist spans several decades with notable exhibitions at the Tate Modern Gallery, London, National Museum of African Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., and Malmö Konsthall, Sweden. Bruce is a well renowned and established name in art circles around the world.
Onobrakpeya's themes cover a wide variety of subjects. Deeply celebrating Nigerian culture is a common trend. His Christian faith also beckons as he executes works both in his normal working and commissioned ones. Environmental issues and the rainbow unity Nigeria's diversity could produce is one of his themes.
An accidental experiment with hydrochloric acid on zinc plates in the late 1960s started Onobrakpeya on a new phase of print-making. Improving and refining this serendipitous innovation, he has risen to the heights of professionalism in his career. The fusion of his training in Western techniques and materials blended into his background, culture and genius yield such ingenuity that is irrefutably indigenous, yet exotic. His rich textured works are a blend of native folklores, faith, environmental reflections and supernatural essences.
Onobrakpeya was trained in the Western tradition of representational art at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, now the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1957-1962. He began to experiment with forms in relation to Nigerian folklore, myths and legends while a student.
He had attended a series of printmaking workshops across the country and on the international scene where he exhibited his works. His first one-man exhibition was held in 1959 in Ughelli in the Niger Delta and later exhibited in the US, Italy, Zimbabwe, Germany, Britain, Kenya and elsewhere.
"Fascination for marks on human bodies and decorations on walls of houses and art works, observed whiled growing up in the Niger Delta environment increased through my exposure to similar art in Northern Nigeria. During my studies at Zaria, I visited other towns like Kano and Gashua. From this time on, decorative marks became central in my designs even to the point of obsession"- Bruce Onobrakpeya
Onobrakpeya developed a writing style called Ibiebe, Ibiebe from 1978 to 1986, when he revisited in his art, ideas linked with traditional religion, customs and history.
Ibiebe is an invented script of ideographic geometric and curvilinear glyphs. The designs reflect the artist's knowledge of his Urhobo heritage, rich in symbols and the proverbs they elicit, as well as his appreciation of Chinese, Japanese, Ghanaian and Nigerian calligraphy.
Onobrakpeya received an honorary D. Litt. from the University of Ibadan in 1989. He received an honourable mention at the Venice Biennale. He was honoured with the Fellowship of the Society of Nigerian Artists on 6 June 2000. He was honoured with the Pope John Paul II award for painting the life of Saint Paul, the Fellowship of Asele Institute award, the Sadam Hussein award, the Solidra Circle award, and Fulbright Exchange Scholar award. Onobrakpeya is the recipient of the Living Human Treasure Award (2006) given by UNESCO, and on 14 September 2010 became the second winner of Nigeria's prestigious Nigerian Creativity Award by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Susanne Wenger (1915-2009)
Susanne Wenger
Susanne Wenger (1915-2009), also known as Adunni Olurisa, was an Austrian artist who resided in Nigeria. Her main focus was the Yoruba culture and she was successful in building an artist cooperative in Osogbo and left a legacy as the first foreign traditional goddess priestess in Nigeria. In accordance with Susanne’s instruction, she was buried immediately following her death, at a private burial in a discreet, unmarked grave inside the Osun River grove; without any fanfare or ceremony.
The following year after Wenger arrived to Nigeria, she moved from Ibadan to the village of Ede near Oshogo, where she quickly assimilated the local culture. It was at Ede that she met Ajagemo, a powerful Obatala (native) priest and her guru, who initiated her into the world of the Orisha - the traditional Yoruba religion. She immersed herself into the traditional Yoruba religion and later founded the New Sacred Art, an expression of her works of art. The art houses her huge cement sculptures, her architectural rules, her cult shrines, houses and caves of initiation and endless walls.
Wenger got caught up in Osun River Grove; her fervor and dedication saw her grow through the ranks to become the chief guardian and priestess of the shrine until her death.
Through her efforts, Osun River grove was enlisted into UNESCO as a World Heritage Center in 2005. It was to her credit that the Osun River Grove has been preserved for posterity and has become world renown.
Abayomi Barber (born 1928)
Abayomi Barber Portrait by Isimi Taiwo
Born in 1928 in Ile Ife, Osun State Nigeria, Abayomi Barber is one of Nigeria’s renowned artists. He is a painter, sculptor, graphic designer and teacher. Barber has created some of the most captivating landscapes in Nigerian art.
