Making History opens a new vista in African art collections
Written by Prof. Sylvester Ogbechie, Making History uses the Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection to review the material process of formalizing and interpreting African artworks of Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo, Cross River, Benin and Benue origins. Akinsanya, an economist and a financial expert, is an avid art collector with over 200 unique masks, bronze and brass […]
Written by Prof. Sylvester Ogbechie, Making History uses the Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection to review the material process of formalizing and interpreting African artworks of Yoruba, Igbo, Urhobo, Cross River, Benin and Benue origins. Akinsanya, an economist and a financial expert, is an avid art collector with over 200 unique masks, bronze and brass sculptures in his kitty. And According to Ogbechie, some of these artifacts have provenance that could be traced to late-dynastic and twentieth-century interregnum periods of Benin/Edo kingdom.
At a press briefing midwifed by The Collectors’ series, a Nigerian art initiative outfit, Prof. Ogbeiche said it is not often the case that a scholar gets a chance to work on projects that have a significant impact on his field of knowledge.
“The publication of Making History represents such a contribution mainly because it presents a rare critical analysis of the practice of African art collecting from the viewpoint of an African collection based on the continent. When I set out to collaborate with Mr Akinsanya on documenting and analyzing his collection of African art, we were both aware of the immense challenges posed by the project and how much effort it will require. There were indeed many challenges but they were all surmounted due to the dedication of the collector and the perseverance of the author,” Ogbechie said.
To both the author and the art collector, their utmost aspiration worth all the stress because it has reached a stage where African art collectors and their artefacts become known, authenticated, researched and celebrated. Ogbechie was particularly irked by African Arts journal, a leading global publication that reviewed over 2000 exhibitions that promoted collections of African Arts owned by European and Americans collectors between 1970 and 2005 without highlighting any artwork owned by an African or located on the continent. This he described as marginalization.
Having been inspired with such radical ideology, Ogbeche seems to have eventually found a useful instrument in Making History. The book refutes the misconceptions that since Africa’s richest treasures were carted away during colonialism, nothing much of value still remain in the continent. Nonetheless, the Associate Professor of Art history like any other contemporary African historian, appreciate the fact that there was indeed massive pillaging of African artworks, their intrinsic equity and economic values by the westerners.
The brainstorming session that attended the formal book launch was no doubt exciting. Indeed, Ogbeche’s painstakingness couldn’t spare his work from scrutiny. One important aspect the participants were quick to note was the provenance (proof of authenticity) of some of the work analysed by the historian. The issue of provenance has on many occasions raised the stake as to the genuineness or otherwise of claims made by authors or any other art historian. Interestingly, Ogbeche was able to proffer satisfactory answers. He said for every work analysed in the book, he did not fail to establish its evidence to prove. He acknowledged the fact that not all of the works have established provenance, but was quick to add that adequate effort was discharged to give a near-to-perfect detail.
In his contribution, Mayo Adediran, a retired Director of Museums, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, who reviewed Making History, described it as a scholarly work by Nigerian art historian which will add a lot of value to museums and university collections across the world. But much more instructive in Adediran’s submission is the advocacy for a review certain Nigerian museum laws.
“The book also emphasise the fact that Nigerian museum laws, which prohibit citizens from buying and selling antiquities, need to be updated, so that individuals, communities, local governments and even universities can begin to partner with government to protect and exhibit our best cultural artefacts,” Adediran said.
In a country where artworks of greater historical and cultural values have suffered much neglect, owing to the combination of social-political factors, Adediran observation couldn’t have been less apt.
Complementing the book presentation was the tour of the exhibition ground. Prof. Ogbechie who led the team of journalists and other enthusiasts at the occasion, took time to provide a brief on each of the artwork on parade. Notably, the artworks were the same reviewed by the author in Making History.
Some of the displayed artifacts as taken from Femi Akinsanya African Art Collection include Oron mask, vertical mask otherwise known as Yoke, crest mask (Oglinye), Anthropomorphic trumpets, Bronze head of Oba of Benin, Epa mask Arowogun (Are Ogun), Ivri of Urhobo people, Sango bead from Oyo, among others.
Convinced that the collaboration between him and Ogbechie has yielded a fruitful result, Akinsanya, the art collector said readers are encouraged to savour the “beauty, majesty and brilliance of traditional African Arts and perceive the imagination, innovativeness, great technical and artistic skills” the book has to offer. He also said he looks forward to seeing greater involvement in indigenous African art collection so as to have something handed over to the future generations. Akinsanya aspiration might turn out to be the needed impetus for greater art development in Nigeria.