Nigerian Art in the Independence Decade, 1957-1967

This dissertation examines the emergence of Nigerian artistic modernism during the decade of political independence, between 1957 and 1967. By focusing on the work of a generation of artists, particularly a group of young artists whose careers began while students at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, I argue that in proposing the idea of Natural Synthesis, these artists inaugurated a uniquely Nigerian modernism. In doing this, they were inspired by the rhetoric and ideologies of decolonization and nationalism initiated by early black nationalists, and later by apostles of Negritude and Pan-Africanism. I show that although these artists built on the achievements of their modern predecessors in Nigeria, their work was radically different. Working under the premise of Natural Synthesis, they developed work that rigorously explored the formal potentialities of specific indigenous art forms and design principles. The results, I argue, are works of art that show both a deep connection with local artistic traditions and the stylistic sophistication we have come to associate with twentieth-century modernist practices. In mapping the emergence of this new work during the period of national independence, I demonstrate how political sovereignty, in the hands of young Nigerian artists, translated into an artistic modernism freed from the thralldom of western stylistic modes. Finally, I argue that although this new work is unprecedented in Nigeria, it is a local manifestation of an international phenomenon, described variously as alternative or parallel modernism, associated with formerly colonized nations.