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Bruce Onobrakpeya

  • Skill Category: Art Legend
  • Present Address: Lagos, Nigeria
  • Country: Nigeria
  • Social media:

Biography

Bruce Obomeyoma Onobrakpeya (born 30 August 1932) 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. Bruce Onobrakpeya was born in Agbarha-Otor in Delta State, son of an Urhobo carver. He was raised as a Christian, but also learned the traditional beliefs. His family moved to Benin City, Edo State, when he was a child. He attended Western Boys High School, where he was taught art by Edward Ivehivboje, among other subjects. He also attended drawing classes at the British Council Art Club in Benin City. Onobrakpeya was inspired by the watercolour paintings of Emmanuel Erabor. After leaving high school, Onobrakpeya was hired as an art teacher at the Western Boys High School (1953–56). In 1956 he left for Ondo, where he taught at the Ondo Boys High School for a year. In October 1957 Onobrakpeya was admitted to the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, now the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Funded by a Federal Government Scholarship, he was trained in the Western tradition of representational art. At the same time, he began to experiment with forms in relation to Nigerian folklore, myths and legends. Much of his work uses stylistic elements and compositions derived from traditional African sculpture and decorative arts. The Zaria Arts Society, later called the Zaria Rebels, was formed on 9 October 1958 by a group of art students at the college led by Uche Okeke with the aim of “decolonizing” the visual arts as taught by expatriate Europeans. Onobrakpeya has said that the college gave him technical skills but the Zaria Arts Society, a discussion group, shaped his perspectives as a professional artist. The society gave him the confidence to seek a personal expressive idiom. He elongated his figures, ignored perspective and evoked the supernatural through ambiguous decorations.

News / Ranking / Titbits / Awards

Honorary D. Litt. from the University of Ibadan in 1989. Honourable mention at the Venice Biennale. Fellowship of the Society of Nigerian Artists on 6 June 2000. Pope John Paul II award for painting the life of Saint Paul, Fellowship of Asele Institute award, Sadam Hussein award, Solidra Circle award, and Fulbright Exchange Scholar award. Onobrakpeya is the recipient of the Living Human Treasure Award (2006) given by UNESCO, Second winner of Nigeria’s prestigious Nigerian Creativity Award by the Federal Government of Nigeria on 14 September 2010. Its first winner was Chinua Achebe. Honorary Degree of Doctor of Arts (Hon. D. A) from the Delta State University, 2017. Recipient of (NNOM) Nigerian National Order of Merit, 2017, the apex and the most important award for scholastic excellence in Nigeria.

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