Abstract
Nigerian artists began forming art groups and schools from the 1950s and 1960s. These art groups advanced the reclaiming of Nigeria‟s artistic cultural heritages. However, even in the post-colonial and post-Civil War 1970s and 1980s many art groups and art institutions had few or no female members that participated in their activities. This essay reviews notable art groups in Nigeria from the earliest to the more recent. It also identifies the prominent women artists that had contributed to modern Nigerian art history. The essay also looks at the changes in the 1990s‟ and identifies contemporary art and its liberal and individualistic approaches as what caused decline in art groups in the twenty-first century. It will identify the women making impact in Nigeria‟s art scenario in the twenty-first century. The essay argues therefore that the liberalizing nature of twenty-first century contemporary art practices in Nigeria may have endeared more visibility to Nigerian women artists.
Highlights
Art groups and associations were critical in forging the narrative of art history in Nigeria
Vogel cited unsupportiveness from government as part of the reasons why many women artists from Nigeria have not excelled in professional studio practice. (Vogel, 1991:190)
Quite a number of female artists who reside outside Nigeria appear to excel in their artistic endeavor
Summary
Art groups and associations were critical in forging the narrative of art history in Nigeria. The workshop provided an alternative motive power to reinvigorate Yoruba sculpture tradition It counters Onabolu‟s pioneering approach to art tutelage in Nigerian schools which emphasized Western realism as opposed to conceptual indigenous arts. The institutions trained artists across gender, Nkiru Nzegwu (2000) in her essay, critiqued how female art graduates are mostly excluded from participating in iinternational group art shows even though the school‟s ideologies were inspired by women‟s indigenous aesthetics. Nzekwu calls this anomaly „gender transmogrification‟ (2000). Kaego Uche-Okeke doubles as a painter and textile artist She worked and retired as a curator at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
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