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| Established | October 18, 2019 |
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| Location | Lekki, Nigeria |
| Coordinates | 6°29′18″N3°51′18″E / 6.488203°N 3.854956°E |
| Type | Art museum |
| Website | museum |
The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art is a privately-owned museum located on the main campus of the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The idea of creating a museum at the university had been in the works for quite some time. In April 2011, the university took a step towards this by launching the Virtual Museum of Modern and Contemporary Nigerian Art on its website. [1] As time went on, the university received proposals from various Nigerian collectors who expressed interest in helping to set up an art museum at PAU. Although none of these proposals materialized, the university included plans for a future museum in its initial Masterplan to develop its main campus in Ibeju Lekki.
In 2012, following an initial brief developed by the university and the design consultants, some preliminary drawings for the museum were produced. Then, in September 2014, Prince Yemisi Shyllon, a renowned art collector, presented a proposal to the university, offering works from his collection to be housed in the university museum. The university accepted his proposal, and in June 2015, both parties signed a formal agreement, establishing the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art. The agreement entailed Prince Shyllon donating 1,000 artworks from his collection to the future museum. Additionally, he pledged to provide financial support for the construction and long-term sustainability of the museum through regular payments.
In mid-2015, the university appointed Redgrey Associates, a Lagos-based firm, as consultants for the project. The definition and design of the museum then began to take shape. By December 2018, Jess Castellote, who had previously collaborated on the building's design, was appointed as the museum's first Director. Construction of the museum building was completed in June 2019, and it officially opened to the public in October of the same year.
The museum contains works of art from different West African artists such as El Anatsui, Uche Okeke and Bruce Onobrakpeya. The museum houses a collection of historical sculptures. [2] The museum possesses artwork dating from the pre-colonial period to the present. [3] The Museum has on display the Nok terracotta found in Igbo-Ukwu and North Central Nigeria, plus exhibits on Ife art and Benin art. There are also some collections of traditional African wooden sculptures by Yoruba artist Lamidi Olonade Fakeye. In addition, the museum has artworks by artists Ben Enwonwu, Peju Alatise, Victor Ehikhamenor, Akinola Lasekan and Aina Onabolu. [4] The museum contains a bronze sculpture of an Ife head. [5] The museum contains photographs of different cultural festivals in Nigeria, most of these photographs were produced by Ariyo Oguntimehin. In addition, the museum has sculptures by Isiaka Osunde, Oladapo Afolayan, Adeola Balogun and Okpu Eze. [6] The museum also has a collection of wood carvings. [7] The museum contains a collection of Afikpo masks, which are traditional masks made of wood used by the Afikpo people, an ethnic group of Ebonyi State. [8]
The museum contains a section dedicated to members of the Oshogbo School of Art, featuring works by Muraina Oyelami, Susanne Wenger, Rufus Ogundele, and Nike Davies-Okundaye. [9] The museum also contains Ifa Divination Trays. [10] The museum has among its collections treasures dating from the 16th century from the kingdom of Benin, and a royal figurine dating from the 14th century belonging to the kingdom of Ife. [11]
In 2019, the museum launched an exhibition curated by Iheanyi Onwuegbuchi titled "Mirroring Man" which was an exhibition on Nigerian art, society, and politics. [12] The second exhibit curated by Ihaenyi Onwuegbuchi in 2020 "Making Matter", was an exhibition on materiality and technology. [13]
In August 2021, the museum presented an exhibition called "The Invincible Hands", curated by Fisayo Bakare, celebrating the artistic contributions of Nigerian women artists. [14]
In November 2022, Fisayo Bakare curated another "Water Under the Bridge", a display that explored the themes of migration and memory, inviting visitors to reflect on the journeys of migrants. [15]
African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as: African-American, Caribbean or art in South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.
Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE, better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art. He was one of the first African artists to win critical acclaim, having exhibited in august exhibition spaces in Europe and the United States and listed in international directories of contemporary art. Since 1950, Enwonwu was celebrated as "Africa's Greatest Artist" by the international media and his fame was used to enlist support for Black Nationalists movement all over the world. The Enwonwu crater on the planet Mercury is named in his honour.
Yusuf Grillo was a Nigerian contemporary artist known for his inventive works and the prominence of the color blue in many of his paintings. He was president of the Society of Nigerian Artists.
The Yoruba of West Africa are responsible for a distinct artistic tradition in Africa, a tradition that remains vital and influential today.
Nnenna Okore is an Australian-born Nigerian artist who lives and works in Chicago at North Park University, Chicago. Her largely abstract sculptural forms are inspired by richly textured forms and colours within the natural environment. Okore's work frequently uses flotsam or discarded objects to create intricate sculptures and installations through repetitive and labor-intensive processes. She learnt some of her intricate methods, including weaving, sewing, rolling, twisting and dyeing, by watching local Nigerians perform daily domestic tasks. In her more recent works, Okore uses plant-based materials to create large bioplastic art forms and installations. Her work has been shown in galleries and museums within and outside of the United States. She has won several international awards, including a Fulbright Scholar Award in 2012. and the Australian Creative Victoria Award in 2021.
Tony Nsofor, is a Nigerian painter. His full name is Anthony Chukwudinma Richard Nsofor.
The Nigerian National Museum is a national museum of Nigeria, located in the city of Lagos. The museum has a notable collection of Nigerian art, including pieces of statuary, carvings also archaeological and ethnographic exhibits. Of note is a terracotta human head known as the Jemaa Head, part of the Nok culture. The piece is named after Jema'a, the village where it was discovered. The museum is located at Onikan, Lagos Island, Lagos State. The museum is administered by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments.
Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya is a Nigerian printmaker, painter and sculptor. He has exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, the National Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden. The National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos has an exhibit of colourful abstract canvases by Onobrakpeya and his works can be found at the Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art, although no exhibitions were showing as of October 2017.
The online Virtual Museum of Modern Nigerian Art is a non-commercial initiative whose primary aim is to provide an easily accessible educational resource that can serve as a first point of reference for students, teachers and art enthusiasts interested in learning about modern and contemporary art in Nigeria. It is operated by the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, Nigeria, the parent body of the Lagos Business School.
Pan-Atlantic University is a private, non-profit educational institution in Lekki, Lagos State.
The Bronze Head from Ife, or Ife Head, is one of eighteen copper alloy sculptures that were unearthed in 1938 at Ife in Nigeria, the religious and former royal centre of the Yoruba people. It is believed to represent a king. It was probably made in the fourteenth-fifteenth century C.E. The realism and sophisticated craftsmanship of the objects challenged the offensive and patronising Western conceptions of African art. The naturalistic features of the Ife heads are unique and the stylistic similarities of these works "suggest that they were made by an individual artist or in a single workshop."
Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian visual artist, writer, and photographer known for his expansive works that engage with multinational cultural heritage and postcolonial socioeconomics of contemporary black lives. In 2017, he was selected to represent Nigeria at the Venice Biennale, the first time Nigeria would be represented in the event. His work has been described as representing "a symbol of resistance" to colonialism.
Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon is a prince of Ake in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. He hails from the Sogbulu and Ogunfayo lineage of the Laarun ruling house of Ake in Egbaland.
Oyasaf is an art foundation that holds a large private art collection in Nigeria.
ART X Lagos is an art fair in Lagos, Nigeria. It is the leading international art fair in West Africa, founded and launched in 2016, and eight editions have been held so far. The ninth edition of the fair will take place between October 31 - November 3 2024.
Ken Nwadiogbu is a Nigerian-born London-based multidisciplinary artist. He calls his method contemporealism – a fusion that is primarily centred on hyper-realism and contemporary art. In 2019, He was awarded the prestigious The Future Awards Africa and was named by Guardian Life as one of the most "Outstanding Personalities of 2019".
Phyllis Galembo is an American photographer living in New York City.
Emile Guebehi (1937–2008) was a sculptor from Nekede, Nigeria, best known as the "Master of Nekede." He worked and died in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. His artworks are part of The Jean Pigozzi Collection of African Art and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Guebehi's work has been shown in major metropolitan museums around the world, including the Hood Museum of Art and the Musée du quai Branly.
The Ife National Museum is a museum located in Osun State, Nigeria. The museum is dedicated to exhibiting objects from Ancient Ife, some of these objects are made of terracotta or bronze. The museum is administered by the National Commission for Museums and Monuments of Nigeria.
"Lower Niger Bronze Industry" is essentially a catch-all term referring either to any unattributed "Bronze" work produced in the Lower Niger, or, more commonly, to every "Bronze" work produced in the Lower Niger which cannot be immediately attributed to more famous traditions of Benin and Yoruba metallurgy. These works, referred to in recent texts as LNBs, are quite distinct from previously mentioned ones in both style and production, but are also internally diverse; they do not comprise a single tradition: "while this omnibus term is still with us, no one would continue to lump the Tada-Jebba bronzes together with those excavated at Igbo-Ukwu, even as sub-styles. These and the other provisional groupings reflect distinctly different traditions. Today even the search for a single alternate bronzecasting center has broadened as several independent workshops have been confirmed." As such, one may consider "Lower Bronze Industry" to actually mean Bronze-works which have not yet been assigned to broader traditions, or whose encapsulating traditions/contexts are poorly understood - different scholars additionally do not agree on which pieces should be given the classification. However, though little is known about them, their mere existence suggests that Bronze working was more widely spread in Nigeria than was once known.
