Osogbo and the Art of Heritage: Monuments, Deities, and Money (African Expressive Cultures)

In the early 1960's, one of the first authentic, indigenous expressions of postcolonial African culture emerged in Oshogbo, a Yoruba city in southwestern Nigeria. It came to be known as "the Oshogbo Movement" or simply as "the Oshogbo artists." Peter Probst's book, Osogbo and the Art of Heritage, Monuments, Deities, and Money, takes an in-depth look at the restoration of the Oshun shrines and the revival of traditions surrounding the worship of the Goddess Oshun which were part of the Oshogbo Movement. An Austrian artist named Susanne Wenger played an important role in this fascinating story of restoration and revival. I lived in Lagos during the decade from the end of the Civil War to 1979. As an art historian, I took great interest in what was happening in Oshogbo. The Oshun Grove was declared a "National Heritage Site" by the United Nations in 2005, and is the focus of an enormous annual pilgrimage and festival. The task Probst sets for himself is to examine in detail how the Oshun Grove came to be named a World Heritage site; how the designation is understood by the local people; the role played by Wenger, and the implications for the future of the site and the town. The book is based on research Probst carried out in Oshogbo in the "noughties" (as Brits call the first decade of the century). He recounts how the Oshogbo Movement began in 1962, with a series of informal "experimental" art workshops organized by Wenger's husband, Ulli Beier, a German expatriate professor of history at the University of Ibadan, and Duro Ladipo, a popular Oshogbo theater director. From the beginning, the Oshogbo Movement divided itself into "secular" and "sacred" artists. The secular artists included Jacob Afolabi, Rufus Ogundele, Jimoh Buraimoh, Muraina Oyelami, Adebisi Fabunmi, Twins Seven Seven, and others. Some of the most successful among them began their careers in workshops taught by a British artist, Georgina Betz (later Beier's second wife). Initially their work found an audience largely through Beier's skillful promotion and the support of expatriates like Jean Kennedy (Wolford) who initiated a weekly open house at her home in Lagos to introduce artists and their work to collectors. The "sacred" art, on the other hand, was dedicated to the restoration of the Oshun Grove and was under the direction of Susanne Wenger. It was made for the Grove and it stayed there. Artists who worked with her were Adebisi Akanji, Sangodare, Ojewale, and Buraimoh Gbadamosi among others. There was no hard and fast distinction between the sacred and secular artists, but they clearly knew themselves. Probst focuses on the sacred art. The shrines were not simply restored but reimagined by Wenger in collaboration with the people of Oshogbo. Probst documents how Wenger and the community negotiated the realization of the project. He structures his research and his book around the concept of "heritage" beginning with the United Nations World Heritage Committee. He goes on to examine heritage as "novelty" (Oshogbo art in relation to international ideas of "modernism); heritage as "project" (how Wenger and her colleagues enlisted the support of the community); heritage as "style" (the "branding" of Oshogbo art); heritage as "spectacle" (the Oshun Festival); heritage as "control" (how the local establishment co-opted the Oshogbo movement); and heritage as "remembrance" (history). I traveled to Oshogbo countless times during the 1970's when I lived in Lagos and again on two subsequent trips to Nigeria. I visited Susanne Wenger in her remarkable house near the Oshogbo market, and I knew many of the people she worked with. Probst's history concurs in all respects with my experience of the "sacred" side of the Oshogbo Movement. Through diligent research and clear organization, he elucidates a complicated history. The book enlarged my knowledge and understanding of the "sacred" side of the Oshogbo Movement. Unfortunately Probst's discussion of the secular side of the Oshogbo Movement is inadequate. He uncritically recounts outdated commentary that asserts the secular artists lost force and relevance when the Beiers left Nigeria. His interest clearly lies with Wenger and the story of the Sacred Grove, and he does not devote adequate attention or research the secular artists. He relies on interviews with Jimoh Buraimoh who, as a native of Oshogbo, helped him to understand the social and political dynamics of Wenger's project, but he devotes little attention to Buraimoh's long and successful artistic career. He also talked with Jacob Afolabi, but he did not interview Adebisi Fabunmi or Muraina Oyelami who still live in the area or Niké who owns a gallery, guesthouse and school in Oshogbo. His discussion of the secular artists contributes little to understanding their accomplishments. I wish he had given us a more complete picture of the significance of the Oshogbo Movement. It is true that when Ulli and Georgina Beier left Nigeria, the Oshogbo artists lost their most effective spokesman, tireless advocate, and ardent defender. In the following years, they met a great deal of resistance, especially from academies at home and abroad. I am sure that Dr. Probst encountered the negativity directed toward Oshogbo artists in his research, and he seems to bought into it to some extent. In the 1970's, academics and critics dismissed Oshogbo art as inauthentic and untutored "airport art". The artists were considered to be mere pawns in the experiments of interfering expatriates. I appreciate how Probst demonstrates that the Beiers were not manipulators distorting cultural purity but participants in creating a new and relevant expression of post-colonial Yoruba culture. He skillfully unravels the motives and relationships and the social and political dynamics of a complicated story. This re-evaluation of the Oshogbo Movement applies to the Sacred Grove and to secular Oshogbo art. Probst describes the rivalry between the Oshogbo artists and the Nigerian artists who studied in universities at home and abroad. Bruce Onobrakpeya was a notable exception to the resentful attitude common in the academies; he supported the Oshogbo Movement and even taught workshops there. Among the Oshogbo artists, I remember the slightly mocking expression, "acada", was used in the 70's to refer to schooled artists. Today younger artists no longer use or understand the term, and the influence of the Oshogbo style is widespread in Nigerian schools and universities. Probst dismisses the 1970's, as a decade of decline and irrelevance in the secular Oshogbo Movement. I was there during the decade and what I saw was quite different. After the Beiers left, the Oshogbo artists established their studios, learned to organize themselves, promote their work and negotiate the international art world. When the Oshogbo Movement began, there was no infrastructure in the country to exhibit, market, collect, or evaluate the art they were creating. Beier demonstrated that there was value in what they were doing and they set about to find the market. They began to travel with their work to seek out collectors, initially among the expatriate community in Lagos.As their networks grew; their sales increased and they began to acquire vehicles. Twins Seven Seven bought a Volkswagen Beetle and decorated it with painted slogans and rhinestones. Novelty and success attracted the attention of curious young people who acquired the skills and vision of the original artists by working alongside them in an ad hoc version of traditional Yoruba apprenticeship. Niké who came from Twins Seven Seven's studio, was the most ambitious and innovative in training young artists. The Niké Centre developed a complete curriculum based on the principles of the Yoruba tradition of indigo textiles and the Oshogbo style. The senior artists set up studios that became workshops reminiscent of the ateliers of European artists of earlier times. These studios produced art and trained younger artists so that nowadays artists speak of second, third, and even forth generations of Oshogbo artists. The problem of exhibition space was initially resolved by foreign diplomatic missions in Lagos. Most notably the German Goethe Institute was very active in showing the work of the Oshogbo artists. I first met Twins Seven Seven in 1970, at his exhibition at the USIA gallery. (Subsequently the Americans discontinued exhibitions of Nigerian artists because they were directed to show only American work. They lost most of their local audience as a result.) Emily and Frank Aig-Imoukhuede started the Gong Gallery in Ikoyi, the first private, commercial gallery in Lagos. The Oshogbo artists themselves established galleries in conjunction with their studios in Oshogbo, and the collectors came. The National Theater was built for the 1977 art extravaganza, the World African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC). Local venues and exhibition opportunities continued to grow. The Oshogbo artists traveled widely overseas expanding their own experience and their markets and extending the influence of the Oshogbo style. Major exhibitions were mounted in France, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and many other major venues. Patronage for this radically new kind of art developed rapidly in the '70's. As Probst makes clear, the first collectors were primarily expatriates. They had disposable income and they understood art collecting, a practice that was not common in traditional Yoruba culture. Educated Nigerians and wealthy businessmen and women soon took an interest in this novel art form and began to look and to buy. I organized exhibitions with the support of the University of Lagos Women's Club. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Ade Ajayi, his wife Christine, and the University Librarian, Bassey Olaniyan, became collectors. Nigerians from all walks of life took pride in this new expression of their culture. Nigeria in the 1970's was a happening place. The country was enjoying independence, post-war peace, and unprecedented prosperity. The Oshogbo Movement was part of this heady time. Subsequent years have not been so kind to the country. Mismanagement and infamous political corruption have taken a heavy toll on the economy and the national wellbeing. The artists have suffered with the rest of the people, but Oshogbo art has not lost its relevance. The younger generations may look derivative to a cursory examination, but in fact they continue to cultivate the ground broken by the singularly original first generation. I hope Prof. Probst will revisit the Oshogbo Movement and give the secular artists the time and attention they deserve to create a balanced history. If he doesn't, I am sure others will. The respected folklorist, Henry Glassie recently published a handsome and heavy biography of Twins Seven Seven. Kim Vaz wrote a biography of Seven Seven's former wife, fiber artist, educator, and entrepreneur, Niké, some years ago. Hardly any publication on modern Nigerian art neglects mention of Oshogbo art. Oshogbo is clearly only a part of the much larger story of modern art in Africa. Artists of enormous stature and talent like Yinka Shonibare, El Anatsui, and Ousman Sow have burst onto the world stage in recent years, but I would ask readers to bear in mind that the Oshogbo artists were among the first. The Oshogbo movement is not dead; it continues to develop and its influence continues to grow.

An unusual and very informed look at an aspect of modern art in Nigeria by someone who really understands what happens on the ground. A must for people interested in what drives Nigerian modern art. and - for comparison with - other developing countries' new art movements.