Bruce Onobrakpeya

Nigerian painter and master printmaker, Bruce Onobrakpeya, is one artists who has successfully synthesized the vitality of Africa's great tradition with the convention and styles of modernity. He has fused his training in western techniques and materials with his own heritage, cultural experience and an inventiveness that is undeniably African. The result is the creation of paintings and prints of vivid colors and magical imagery in a medium that speaks of the past and present to the future in a language of Pan-Africanist universalism.

Onobrakpeya was born in 1932 at Agbarha-Otor, presently in Nigeria's Bendel State. His first exposure to art came through his father, a competent sculptor who in his leisure time carved wooden figures for traditional religious deities. In elementary school Onobrakpeya developed an interest in engraving. He was commissioned by fellow classmates to engrave their names on silk cotton tree thorns and rubber to be used as stamps. As a student in high school, Onobrakpeya's interest in art revealed itself in other areas as well, and as was subsequently noticed by the school authority who later employed him as a teacher. It was this experience which made him determined to further his studies in art. He traveled north in 1957 to Zaria, where he studied at the Nigerian College of Technology (presently the Ahamdu Bello University).

Onobrakpeya was first introduced to the technique of intaglio at a print workshop sponsored by the University of Ibadan and the Mbari Club and instructed by Dutch professor Ru Van Russem. After attended two of Russem's sessions, Onobrakpeya was prompted into turning away from work in oils, drawing, silk-screening and lino cuts towards etching. The surroundings and experiences of Onobrakpeya's childhood left a lasting impression on his future work. The dense vegetation and fertile soil of his hometown of Agbarha-Otor is often repeated in his prints. Like so many of his generation, Onobrakpeya was raised a Christian but familiarized with the old faith through oral traditions of myths and legends. The peaceful coexistence of these distinct traditions in his own life reflects in many of his prints that depict biblical as well as traditional themes etched in exactly the same style.

Living part of his childhood in Benin city left in Onobrakpeya a lasting impression and appreciation for Benin's great history of artistic achievement. He was exposed to the Yoruba resist dye-cloth known as adire and Benin's famous royal plagues, both of these influences are evident in his prints. As a student in Zaria, Onobrakpeya was struck by the drastically different environment of the north. There was little vegetation and the homes were low, flat-topped and Islamic in style, with facade and ceilings decorated in elaborated designs. His later prints would, therefore, explore these different northern decorative styles. All of these influences contributed to Onobrakpeya's artistic endeavors by developing an appreciation of diverse cultures without discarding his own. While a student in Zaria, Onobrakpeya and colleagues would engage in a dialogue on African and Nigerian art is, and embark on a serious a attempt to produce it.

During the Nigerian movement towards independence, intellectuals questioned the role of the contemporary artist in an independent Nigeria. Writers Wole Soynika and Chinua Achebe and painters Uche Okeke and Demas Nwoko were committed to establishing a high standard of practice and criticism in all the arts. In 1964 Onobrakpeya helped to organize the Society of Nigerian Artists. Opting for the difficult choice of being a professional artist dedicated to challenging his imaginative impulses into a highly personal vision, Onobrakpeya rejected the temptation of becoming a traditional craftsman who produces works out of set conventions dictated by the patron or a commercial illustrator in advertising. Onobrakpeya's oeuvre can be grouped into several broad categories: representations of mundane activities; cataloguing of social activities and scenes inspired by religious and mythological ideas, and abstract experiments. He also draws inspiration from the Bible and his Christian faith. Several of Onobrakpeya's murals and illustrations have been commissioned by religious institutions throughout the world.

In 1967 he produced 14 paintings based on Satins of the Cross for the Saint Paul's Church, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, Nigeria. In 1968 he created sixty illustrations for the Catholic National Catechism in Nigeria. In 1977 his painting on the life of St. Paul was presented to Pope Paul VI for the Pope's 80th birthday. In 1979 Onobrakpeya's print entitled Ota Gbinowe was presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury during his visit to Nigeria. Onobrakpeya's devotion to Christianity, however, has not invalidated the inspiration he continues to receive from the spirituality of his forefathers. Alongside his Christian themes are studies of Yoruba and other shrines in his Urhobo homeland in Izobo and Okunovu.

Onobrakpeya is not only known for provocative imagery but for innovative technique as well. In 1967 he discovered a pioneering technique with engraving on epoxy which he modestly claimed was accidental. After ruining a plate during an experiment with intaglio, Onobrakpeya attempted to repair it by filling the unwanted holes and lines with araldite. When he produced a print, the result was a sculptural quality. After exploring this feature in further experiments, Onobrakpeya was able to create a bold relief to his prints, strikingly similar to that of the Benin royal plagues. He has also explored preparing plastocasts from used plates and continues to work with lino cuts. In 1966 he developed a bronzed lino-relief technique by mounting a few lino-blocks on hardboards and painting them with bronze colors.

Onobrakpeya had his first one-man exhibition in 1959 in Ughellii, Bendel State, Nigeria. He has since participated in several exhibitions around the world including: the International Book Fair in Bologna (1969); Howard University in Washington D.C. (1970); the Commonwealth Art Gallery in London (1971); Gallery Watatu in Nairobi; FESTAC '77, Lagos (1977); tenth one man show at the Goethe Institute in Lagos (1978); and most recently Seven Stories about Modern Art in Africa at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London (1995-1996).

Bibliographies/Artists:

Barde, Robert. Bruce Onobrakpeya: Nigeria's Master Printmaker. Toronto: The Best of Africa, 1980.

Young, Louis C. Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition. New York: Studio Museum in Harlem, 1990.

Quel, Safy. Bruce Onobrakpeya: Symbols of Ancestral Groves. Lagos, Nigeria: Ovuomaroro Gallery, 1985.