ABSTRACT
Obiora Udechukwu’s name is synonymous with the Nsukka Art School. He is also
known nationally and internationally. His art career has been eventful and
aesthetically rewarding. He works in diverse media such as oil, acrylic, watercolour,
pen and ink, lithographs, linocut, aquatint, graphite and pastel, and he is best known
for his highly linear style which draws extensively from the traditional uli art and
other linear art forms like nsibidi and Chinese Li art. In 1995, he left for the United
States of America, where his professionalization in art has continued to make him
produce enduring visual statements. Numerous scholarly works have been written on
Udechukwu, but a comprehensive research, which articulates his art career in Nigeria
and in the United States of America, is yet to be carried out. This study, therefore,
attempts to fill this vacuum. Employing historical and analytical processes, it provides
an update on Udechukwu’s art career, using art professionalism, shifting identities
and creative correspondences as critical frameworks. Obiora Udechukwu’s art career
in Nigeria and in the United States of America is marked with experimentation.
Noticeable changes seen in his works in the Diaspora are the development of more
organic and multi-linear compositions, as well as the increased use of text in pictorial
configuration. The Nigerian civil war, his Igbo roots, indigenous art forms, as well as
socio-political issues are dominant themes in his art. He has contributed to the
development of modern Nigerian art through numerous national and international
exhibitions, workshops and conferences. His art career has brought international
attention to the Nsukka Art School, and he has trained, as well as influenced many
modern Nigerian artists.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… i
Approval Page ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ii
Certification …………………………………………………………………………………………………… iii
Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… iv
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………. v
Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………………….. vii
List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………………………………… ix
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. viii
CHAPTER ONE …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1
INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Background to the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………. 1
Statement of the Problem …………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Objectives of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………… 7
Methodology ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 7
Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 8
Limitations of the Study…………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
Significance of the Study …………………………………………………………………………………… 8
Organization …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8
CHAPTER TWO ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 11
LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………………………………………………………… 11
CHAPTER THREE ………………………………………………………………………………………. 40
BIOGRAPHY AND PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF OBIORA
UDECHUKWU ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 40
CHAPTER FOUR …………………………………………………………………………………………. 68
OBIORA UDECHUKWU’S ART CAREER FROM 1964 TO 1995 …………………….. 68
Obiora Udechukwu’s War Time Art………………………………………………………………….. 80
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Creativity and a New dawn: Udechukwu’s involvement with Culture
Re-appraisal and Renaissance …………………………………………………………………………. 100
Stylistic remnants of War Time Art …………………………………………………………………. 101
Evidences of Varied Creative Influences. …………………………………………………………. 109
Early Manifestations of the Linear Culture (1975 – 1979). …………………………………. 119
Era of Advanced Linear Oratory (1980 – 1991). ……………………………………………….. 126
Era of Profound Colour Exploration (1992 – 1995). ………………………………………….. 167
CHAPTER FIVE ………………………………………………………………………………………… 193
BEYOND THE FRONTIERS OF THE HOMELAND: OBIORA
UDECHUKWU’S ART CAREER FROM 1997-2012 ………………………………………. 193
Analysis of Selected Works ……………………………………………………………………………. 198
CHAPTER SIX …………………………………………………………………………………………… 262
CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 262
Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 271
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Art, as a means of self expression, generally espouses creativity, fertile
imagination, ingenuity, as well as perceptive and conceptual abilities. A successful
and enduring art practice according to Ola Oloidi is necessarily usually built around a
well sustained culture of professionalism which embodies the love of, or interest in,
achieving or attaining standard or professional proficiency.1 Meaningful art
production also requires the acquisition of specific skills, knowledge and a clear
understanding of what constitutes good art. These fundamental requirements are often
acquired through genuine interest, training and the willingness to experiment with
ideas and materials.
The appraisal of world art history shows that many artists, have, at different
art epochs, distinguished themselves in various creative endeavours. These artists,
often acclaimed as ‘masters’, performed tremendous feats in the different aspects of
the visual arts. The artists of the I5th, 16th and 17th centuries like Donatello, Leonardo
da Vinci, Michelangelo, Leon Battista Alberti, Titian, El Greco, Diego Velasquez,
Peter Paul Rubens, Caravaggio and Rembrandt van Rijn, among others, had
distinguished art careers that have continued to attract admiration till date. In his
analysis of the Renaissance period, Fred Kleiner notes that “the High Renaissance
produced a cluster of extraordinary geniuses and found in divine inspiration the
rationale for the exaltation of the artist-genuis.”2 Some examples of masterpieces
produced during this era include the enigmatic Monalisa painted by Leonardo da
Vinci, Last Judgement, painted on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel by
Michelangelo Buonarroti and Raphael Sanzio’s School of Athens, among numerous
others.
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Other art movements in Europe such as Impressionism, Romanticism,
Realism, Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism
just to mention a few, also highlight the artistic ingenuity of the artists associated with
these art periods. Artists like Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Francisco Goya,
William Blake, Eugene Delacroix, Salvador Dali, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock,
Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henry Moore, Paul Klee, Frank Lloyd Wright and Le
Corbusier, just to mention a few, are worthy examples. To attain the status of a
master, an artist must have attained a certain degree of professionality in his art
practice. The attainment of this status initiates a different kind of critical assessment
and also confers on the work of the artist, value and didactic posturing. Ola Oloidi
notes:
A master is a professional whose art is already liberated from, or
no more professionally affected by, certain forms of conventional
criticism or whose art can no more be made captive of negative
criticism. The professional strength of a master does not lie
anymore in critics’ convictions but in the artist’s innate abilities
and pure sensibilities.3
Also, the attainment of such status arises from what Oloidi describes as “a supreme
attribute that comes naturally through great effervescent experimentation and
professionalization.”4
In the discourse on modern Nigerian art, artists like Aina Onabolu, Akinola
Lasekan, Ben Enwonwu, Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, Yusuf Grillo, Bruce
Onorbrakpeya and El Anatsui have attained this status. The artist, Obiora Udechukwu,
also belongs to this category. A competent painter, draughtsman, writer and poet,
Udechukwu’s art career has impacted significantly on the growth and development of
Nigeria’s art modernism. The artist has attained a well deserved recognition, both
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nationally and internationally and he stands on the pedestal of the artist-genius. As
Simon Ottenberg observes:
Udechukwu is a highly regarded Nigerian artist who creates in a
range of two-dimensional media, with a rich background of
experience in drawing. Highly productive, he frequently exhibits in
solo and group exhibitions, writes critique and commentaries on
contemporary Nigerian art, has substantial gift as a poet, and is a
person of wide scholarly interest.5
Krydz Ikwuemesi also remarks that each time he contemplates Obiora Udechukwu’s
works, his mind recalls the humble words of Heinrich Heine, the German Romantic
poet, who declared; “Aus meinem grossen Schmerzen mach’ ich die kleinen Lieder”
(Through my great labour, I create little songs).6 Ikwuemesi explains that Heine was
only exhibiting extreme humility as his songs were actually not little, but provided the
platform through which he was able to criticized the social problems of his time.7
Applying this analogy to Udechukwu, Ikwuemesi further remarks:
In the same manner, a cursory look may mislead the viewer to
dismiss Udechukwu’s works, especially his drawings, as
simplistic. There is also a seeming simplicity that equally marks
the fire behind his exemplary personality. Like Heine, Udechukwu
knows the problems of his time the way he knows the back of his
hand. At 58, he certainly understands the contradictions and
conflicts in the Nigerian question, especially in its post-war
characteristics. It is these conflicts and contradictions that are at
the centre of Udechukwu’s imagination, as he concerns himself
with the pursuit of truth and excellence, which are the gem of great
art.8
Obiora Udechukwu’s art, to a marked degree, is shaped by certain
circumstances that were instrumental to his formative years. The trauma of the
Nigerian civil war and his encounter with uli art, the traditional art of body and wall
painting practised by Igbo women of south-eastern Nigeria, were of immense
importance to his development as an artist, both thematically and stylistically. These
factors proved to be vital catalysts that ignited his creative sensibility. As reported by
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Simon Ottenberg, Udechukwu’s comment on the trauma of the Nigerian civil war,
serves as a pointer to the artist’s thematic preoccupation:
I as a person had to move from one town to other with virtually no
property, just a coat and a bag, occasionally sleeping in the open.
So I know firsthand what it is to suffer. I have known hunger. I
have also seen people suffering. I have seen air raids where human
beings are dismembered in under two seconds. So this has left a
big mark on my psyche and over the years, I find that images of
pathos that one associates with Biafra, keeps surfacing from time
to time.9
In acknowledging the influence of indigenous art forms on his art, Udechukwu also
states:
At one level, my work has benefitted immensely from, and owes a
lot to, the forms and aesthetic strategies of Igbo uli drawing and
painting, and to a lesser extent nsibidi writing. What these two
systems have done is to provide me with a reliable vocabulary for
articulating and presenting my responses to life-various
environments, events and phenomena. In the same way that my
grounding in Igbo and English informs my creative writing, my
encountering the arts of various parts of the world has broadened
my outlook and practice.10
Through the years, the creative pathways which Udechukwu’s art has taken
reflect a culture of experimentation. These experiences are continually reinvented and
consolidated by the artist into a personal creative language. It is of vital importance to
the visual artist, to be consciously and critically aware of his environment,
understanding its dynamism and potentiality for creative revival and sustenance. This
exhortation is also not lost on Udechukwu, who says:
The Igbo saying that “If you do not know where the rain started to
beat you, you will not know where it ceased to beat you” posits a
historical imperative for the understanding of the present and for
the survival of a person or a society at a given time. This idea is
elaborated in the memorable speech by the old man in Chinua
Achebe’s Novel, Anthills of the Savannah (1987), and resonates
with the project, spearheaded by Uche Okeke in the 1970s at
Nsukka, to deeply research traditional Nigerian art as a foundation
for the realization of a vital contemporary art.11
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For a career that has been sustained for over five decades, Obiora Udechukwu’s art
has consistently drawn from indigenous sources as a potent creative resource for the
realization of contemporary artistic demands. The artistic proceeds of Udechukwu’s
resolution of this creative dialogue, between tradition and modern, have gained him
respect and recognition. This finds endorsement in Ola Oloidi’s assertion that “Obiora
Udechukwu, more than all the new artists in Nigeria, has won international
attention.”12 As of 1992, the artist has had sixteen solo exhibitions, four joint
exhibitions and over sixty-four group exhibitions.13 Udechukwu has also received
numerous awards and grants. His creative and scholarly writings equally factor in
projecting the wholesomeness of his artistic personality.
For twenty-two years, Obiora Udechukwu taught art in the Department of Fine
and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. In 1995, as a result of irreconcilable
differences between the artist and the administration of the University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, he relocated to the United States of America and is presently Charles A.
Dana Professor of Fine Arts at St Lawrence University. Numerous scholarly works
have been written on Obiora Udechukwu. The most outstanding literary work on the
artist is, perhaps, the book, New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka
School, written by the eminent anthropologist, Simon Ottenberg. The book, published
in 1997, provides insightful information on the artist. Udechukwu’s biography, artistic
development and professional art career are critically appraised within the framework
of the Nsukka Art School, of which the artist strongly represents. Obiora Udechukwu
is the quintessential artist whose love for art and commitment to professionalism,
continue to sustain a prolific and vibrant art career. The artist’s creative antecedents
remain integral to the discourse on the Nsukka Art School in particular, and Nigeria’s
art modernism in general.
xviii
Art professionalism, shifting identities and creative correspondences, the three
key frameworks which form the basis of this study, provide effective handles for the
understanding and appreciation of Udechukwu’s art. The first examines Udechukwu’s
commitment to professionalism in art. This involves assessing how his love for, and
interest in, achieving standard, has translated to issues of professionalization and
professionality. Shifting identities, the second framework, examines the artist’s art
career in Nigeria, and the creative implication of his migration to the United States of
America. The third framework, creative correspondences, considers the multifarious
layering of Udechukwu’s art, especially, as it relates to his dynamic responses to life
experiences, within the rubrics of style, media and subject matter.
Statement of the Problem
Given Udechukwu’s creative pedigree, there is compelling need to carry out a
periodic appraisal of the dynamics at work in his professional art career; more so, now
that his art practice bestrides two continents. Simon Ottenberg’s book represents the
most in-depth documentation on the artist. However, it is time constrained as it
examines the artist’s career up to 1995. Udechukwu’s art practice in the Diaspora
from 1995 upwards, and how this factor in the panoramic appraisal of his oeuvres, are
yet to receive in-depth scholarly attention. Specifically, certain factors which are
likely to have impacted on Obiora Udechukwu’s art career in the diaspora are also yet
to be addressed. For example, in mapping the current creative trajectory of his art
practice, to what extent has the past shaped his present artistic experiences? Has the
artist’s relocation to a different continent induced any noticeable changes in his work
as an artist? If so, at what levels have these changes occurred in terms of style,
technique, media preference and subject matter? Also, given the artist’s track record
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of adapting and appropriating indigenous art forms to contemporary use, are there
evidences of assimilation of new indigenous art vocabularies, and consequently,
development of new aesthetic strategies? Furthermore, bearing in mind the artist’s
strong attachment to his traditional roots, to what extent has his host environment
benefitted from the expected cultural dialogue? These questions constitute gaps that
need to be filled. Updating Udechukwu’s professional art career becomes imperative.
Research Objectives
The objectives of this study were to:
i. provide an updated and comprehensive information on the artist’s creative
journey so far
ii. show the various influences that shaped his creative disposition
iii. bring to limelight, changes that may have occurred in his work as a visual
artist as a result of his relocation to a different creative clime.
iv. highlight the artistic contributions made by Obiora Udechukwu to both his
host community and modern Nigerian art.
Research Methodology
To actualize its set objectives, the study utilized primary and secondary
sources of data collection. Primary data were generated from electronic
correspondences between the artist and the researcher through platforms like skype
and e-mail exchanges. The visual, oral and textual information sourced through these
channels were collected with the aid of a tape recorder and the computer. Secondary
data were collected from published materials such as books, journals, exhibition
catalogues, magazines, newspapers, online materials, as well as unpublished materials
like students’ dissertations and theses.
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Scope of the Study
The study focuses primarily on the biography and art of Obiora Udechukwu. It
examines the artist’s art career from two geographical stand points. This comprises
his art career in Nigeria, covering the period, 1964-1995, and his art practice in the
Diaspora, from 1997-2013.
Limitation of the Study
The geographical distance between the researcher and Obiora Udechukwu made it
difficult to physically examine the works produced by Udechukwu in the Diaspora.
Obiora Udechukwu’s work schedule, which is unknown to the researcher, as well as
the barrier posed by distance, delayed data collection. Also, unreliable internet service
and power supply in Nigeria brought frustration in data gathering.
Significance of the Study
The study will have an enriching influence on art historical culture in Nigeria
by providing knowledge on a distinguished and vibrant Nigerian visual artist. It is
bound to stimulate interest in scholars to embark on parallel researches that will help
update and document works of artists in Nigeria especially those with a well sustained
track record of professional practice.
Organization
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In discussing Udechukwu’s professional art career, this study has been
structured in such a manner as to satisfy the research objectives. Chapter One
introduces the background to the study. The Statement to the problem, Objectives of
the Research, Methodology, Scope of Study, Limitations of the Study and
Significance of the Study, are also incorporated in this chapter. The review of related
literature is carried out in Chapter Two. This provides a general understanding of
literary and visual documentation by various scholars and writers, which directly or
indirectly relate to the personality and professionality of Obiora Udechukwu. Chapter
Three provides biographical information on the artist and also discusses the artist’s
professional achievements while Chapter four analyzes the artist’s art career from
1964 to 1995, the period when he was still domiciled in Nigeria. Chapter Five features
an in-depth analysis of Udechukwu’s art career in the Diaspora from 1997 to 2013
and Chapter Six summarizes the study.
References
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1. Ola Oloidi; his postgraduate lecture in Art History, University of Nigeria,
Nsukka, 2011.
2. Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner’s Art through the Ages, thirteenth edition (Boston:
Thompson Wadsworth, 2009), p.579.
3. Ola Oloidi, “Modern Nigerian Art: A celebration of Selected Masters,” in
Living Masters (Lagos: Guaranty Trust Bank, 2007), p.7.
4. Ibid, p.8.
5. Simon Ottenberg, New traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka
Group, (Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), p.111.
6. Krydz Ikwuemesi, “Introductory Essay,” in Spaces and Silences (Lagos:
Pendulum Art gallery, 2004), p.5.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid
9. Simon Ottenberg, p.116.
10. Obiora Udechukwu, “Artist’s statement”. In Spaces and Silences (Lagos:
Pendulum Art gallery, 2004), p.12.
11. Ibid.
12. Ola Oloidi, “Who is the New African Artist: Spirituality and Conscience in
Contemporary African Art,” in Chrysalis, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (1988): p.12.
13. See Obiora Udechukwu’s curriculum vitae in So Far (Bayreuth: Boomerang
Press, 1993), pp.71-88.
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