Nigerian Traditional Arts, Crafts and Architecture

Nigerian Traditional Art

About a decade ago, Nigeria mounted a travelling art exhibition titled "Treasures of Ancient Nigeria," which loured the United States of America, Canada, Britain and some European countries for more than three years. Critics described the exhibition as the best and most comprehensive to come from Africa. The art works represented the vintage of Nigerian artistic expression, for included in the show, were the bold and imaginative Nok terra cottas, described as the oldest sculptures in Africa South of the Sahara, the bronze and terra cotta heads of lfe which represent a naturalism comparable to that of classical Greek sculpture, the famous heads, figurines and plaques from the foundries of the ancient city of Benin and the lgbo-Ukwu bronzes described as among the earliest bronze works created by Nigerian craftsmen.

The significance of Nigerian traditional arts was not revealed to the outside world until after the second World War when systematic study and analysis mostly by European and American scholars were undertaken. Prior to this and even though Nigeria's contact with Europe dates from the fifteenth century, very little was known about Nigeria's artistic heritage until 1897 when a British Punitive Expedition not only sacked the ancient city of Benin but also removed as 'War' booty several thousand art works, mostly in bronze, from the Oba's palace. These works, the first African art to be accorded world recognition, remain today the most famous of all African traditional sculptures. A recent writer high lights the dispersal of these works when he writes: "he last place to go if you want to see Benin art is Benin itself, very little of its is left in the city... if you want to see Benin art, you will have to travel from Leningrad to California... to the splendid mansion of a Swiss millionaire near Berne, to Copenhagen and Paris and New York... Nobody has ever estimated how much art was removed from Benin at various times; one estimate puts the number of bronze plaques and other ornaments removed from the Oba's palace in 1897 at 2,500." (Legum, 1960).

And in a foreword to a recent exhibition of Royal Benin Art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, de Montebello, while confirming that these sculptures were seen by outsiders for the first time in 1897, said that the "naturalism and royal imagery of these works were compared to masterpieces of Renaissance Europe and their technical sophistication and precious materials were much admired, earning Benin art a central place in European and American Museums" (Montebello, 1992).

The Nok terras:

Consisting of human and animal figures and believed to have been made between 500 BC and 200 AD are reputed to be the oldest sculptures in Africa, South of the Sahara. Like most other African traditional art forms, the Nok terra cottas were of religious and social signifi cance. Although considerable archaeological work remains to be done in order to establish the extent of Nok influence in other West African sculptures, it has been fairly established that the culture that pro duced the terra-cottas had a substantial influence in later sculptures that developed in West Africa and Nigeria in particular, the art of lfe, Benin and Owo have been cited as clear examples. The discovery of Nok art is important in the history of African art because it brought about a change in previously held view that the oldest African traditional sculp tures were only a few hundred years old. Identified by Bernard Fagg in 1943, the culture which produced this art has shed new light on the achieve ment of the people who are believed to have known how to work in iron, using indigenous technology, as revealed by large quantities of iron aitefacts. A study of the terra-cottas and associated artefacts indicates that the Nok culture is in many ways similar to that of the present inhabitants of the same area.

lfe Art:

lfe art has been acknowledged as the most famous manifestation of naturalism in African art and so startled the Western world on its discovery at the early part of this century that the works were thought to be beyond the capabilities of Africans. In fact, the German explorer and ethnologist, Leo Frobenius, who carried out the first excavation at lle-ife (1910-12), thought that the bronzes and terra cottas were the works of itinerant European artists. This view remained current in European circles until the discovery of more terra cotta and bronze figures in lfe by other archaeolo gists which established beyond doubt that the lfe style was the peak of an earlier naturalistically inclined art form that flourished further north during the Nok culture.

lgbo-Ukwu Bronzes;

The latest finds in this line of artistic achievements are the lgbo-Ukwu bronzes - (excavated by the archaeologist Thurston Shaw in the present Anambra State). Made up of bowls pots, staff heads and bracelets, the origin of these works is yet to be firmly established but what is certain is that they are among the earliest works created in bronze, having flourished between 600 and 1000 AD.

Less widely spread but still of great-significance are the sculptures in stone and wood such as the Ikorn monoleths and the famous Oron-Ekpu wood carvings.

Several other art styles of historical importance developed in various parts of Nigeria. Of these, a group of very sophisticated soap-stone figures, the single largest in Africa, was discovered at Esie in Kwara State. They are believed to be the works of Nupe people who still inhabit the area. Cordwell refers to them as exhibiting a "combination of naturalism and stylised proportioning" (Cordwell, 1959). and sharing some affinity with the art of Nok, lfe and Benin.

By

S. 1. Wangboje