Nigeria’s Financial Sector Liberalization: An Implicit Cultural Policy for Art Market Development

Abstract

This study adopted historical research and in-depth interviews with artists, dealers, art writers, and collectors in addressing two overarching questions, which are (1) How have state actions manifested as the impetus and impediments to art market development in Nigeria and (2) To what extent is Bourdieu’s artistic field model applicable to the Nigerian art world? As the boost in artistic production and consumption in Renaissance Italy was attributed to the wealth generated from banking by the Medici, the research also shows that the art market in Nigeria emerged as an upshot of the economic policy of financial deregulation, which manifested as an “implicit” cultural policy. The financial sector liberalization policy was aimed at addressing the economic depression that stemmed from the drastic global fall in crude oil prices in the 1980s. It stimulated the proliferation of banking and other financial services institutions in Nigeria, which engendered intense competition that lured operators into harnessing esthetics for competitive advantages. This bolstered art collection and patronage, underpinning the emergence of the contemporary art market in Nigeria with an auction segment that grew from about $250,000 in 1999 to over $5.5 million in 2017. Paradoxically, the research also revealed that inadequacies resulting from the lack of “explicit” state plans for the cultural sector constitute impediments to the optimization of the market’s potential. As a mark of power, high art and advanced taste have always been associated with elitism. Thus, the research also establishes a high degree of applicability of Bourdieu’s artistic field model in exploring the dynamics of power structures in the Nigerian art world.