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Nigerian sculptors

29 artists

Sculpture is Nigeria's oldest art: the Nok terracottas are more than two thousand years old, and the bronze and brass heads of Igbo-Ukwu, Ife and Benin are among the great works of world art. In the early twentieth century the Yoruba carver Olowe of Ise made palace doors and veranda posts of astonishing invention, and Lamidi Fakeye carried the tradition of Yoruba wood carving into modern times.

Modern sculptors include Ben Enwonwu, whose Anyanwu stands at the National Museum in Lagos, and Erhabor Emokpae. Sokari Douglas Camp works in steel in London; El Anatsui, Ghanaian-born and for decades a teacher at Nsukka, turned bottle caps into shimmering hangings; Yinka Shonibare dresses headless figures in Dutch wax; Nnenna Okore transforms burlap and clay. These are Nigeria's sculptors, most looked-up first. See also African sculpture and the Benin Bronzes.

Profiles

Artist

Yinka Shonibare

Nigeria · 1962–

Yinka Shonibare dresses headless figures in Victorian costume of "African" Dutch wax print, a fabric with a European history, to question empire and identity.

Sculptor

El Anatsui

Ghana · Nigeria · 1944–

Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui turns thousands of flattened bottle caps into shimmering metal "cloths". His life, his materials and where to see the work.

Painter and sculptor

Ben Enwonwu

Nigeria · 1917–1994

Ben Enwonwu (1917–1994) sculpted Queen Elizabeth II, made Anyanwu and painted Tutu, the "African Mona Lisa" that sold for £1.2 million in 2018.

Painter and musician

Twins Seven-Seven

Nigeria · 1944–2011

Twins Seven-Seven, sole survivor of seven sets of twins, became the most famous painter of the Oshogbo school, filling his works with Yoruba spirits.

Artist

Otobong Nkanga

Nigeria · 1974–

Otobong Nkanga, a Nigerian-born artist in Antwerp, makes tapestries, installations and performances about land, mining, trade and the body.

Printmaker and painter

Bruce Onobrakpeya

Nigeria · 1932–

Bruce Onobrakpeya, of the Zaria Art Society, invented printmaking techniques drawing on Urhobo culture and founded the Harmattan Workshop in Agbarha-Otor.

Sculptor

Nnenna Okore

Nigeria · 1975–

Nnenna Okore, a Nigerian artist born in Australia and based in Chicago, twists, dyes and weaves burlap, paper and clay into sculptures of decay and renewal.

More artists

Most looked-up first. Names link to our profile, or to Wikipedia where we do not have one yet. Short descriptions from Wikidata; portraits from Wikimedia Commons. Image credits