Demas Nwoko was still an undergraduate student at the Nigeria College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria when he painted Folly, where his classmates included some of the most important figures in Nigerian modernism, among them Uche Okeke, Yusuf Grillo, Simon Okeke, Okechukwu Emmanuel Odita, and Bruce Onobrakpeya. As the first tertiary level art school in Nigeria, they were exposed to conventional Western academic training in draughtsmanship and observational realism. As a direct response, on 9 October 1958, they founded the Zaria Art Society, later referred to as the Zaria Rebels, with the aim of decolonizing the visual arts as taught by expatriate Europeans at the institution.

The formation of the group coincided with a period dominated by nationalistic fervour and with the impending attainment of independence in 1960. The Rebels believed in the celebration of indigenous cultures as a central part of the movement, and the use of unique subject matter in their work. Nwoko and his counterparts would have discussions outside of class, sharing ideas and impressing upon each other the importance of documenting the traditions and folklore of the varied cultures of Nigeria people.

Born from this discourse, Folly depicts two caged birds, a black rooster and a red helmeted guinea fowl in what appears to be a fierce contest, as a white hen observes, its eyes transfixed through the honeybee cell-like cage. Both birds in the cage share battle scars, Nwoko cleverly dots each bird with feathers from the other to suggest their sustained injuries. Of course, the cock fight is a universally recognised metaphor and a common subject in the history of art: from the Ancient Greeks to Johan Zoffany's Colonel Mordaunt's Cockfight (1784) and Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Young Greeks Attending a Cock Fight (1864); the anthropomorphism of the chickens providing a metaphor for the spirit of violent confrontation. These fighting cocks can therefore be interpreted as men in comic cost.mes , hence Nwoko’s witty title, Folly. The hen in the background can be seen to symbolize the new nation, keeping a watchful eye on the follies of the embattled birds, learning from their mistakes so they are not repeated. Incidentally, the colours employed by Nwoko in the depiction of the hen and the background are the same colour as the Nigerian Flag, adopted in 1960. The present lot can therefore be interpreted as an allegorical take on the social situation in Nigeria at the t.mes of painting and the subsequent independence, occurring just five months after the Folly was executed.

In this way, the present lot can therefore be considered in dialogue with Nwoko’s masterpiece [Nigeria] In 1959, also painted in 1960. In [Nigeria] In 1959 the body language of the figures of British officials in the foreground appear defeated, disinterested and relegated to the idea that their reign over the country is over. Silhouetted behind them are a group of native figures cost.mes d in uniforms, ready to usher them away. Ulli Beier describes the “almost unbearable intensity” of this work: “one feels that they must explode any minute into violent action”. Where [Nigeria] In 1959 depicts the antagonists but no action, Folly depicts the fight itself. Together, these two works may represent the earliest direct political critiques by a contemporary Nigerian artist. On the eve of Nigeria’s political independence from British colonial rule, at the very peak of Nigeria’s nationalist struggle, they provide a deep reflection on the political tension that pervaded the year before the country’s independence, while conveying scepticism at the utopian expectations of Nigeria’s independence.

At this t.mes Englishman Michael Crowder was in Lagos as editor of Nigeria magazine, in which he illustrated the present lot, and writing The Story of Nigeria (1962), in which he describes Nwoko as one of the most exciting Nigerian artists of the day. As director of the Lagos Exhibition Centre, Crowder sponsored exhibitions by Demas Nwoko, Uche Okeke, Festus Idehen, Bruce Onobrakpeya, and Erhabor Emokpae among others, overseeing an era of unprecedented growth in the art industry of Nigeria. He was also on the selection committee for the Nigerian Independence Art Exhibition, appointing Uche Okeke as curator following the resignation of Ben Enwonwu. Okeke and his Zaria classmates Demas Nwoko and Bruce Onobrakpeya designed the Arts and Craft Pavilion, described by Black Orpheus founder Ulli Beier as “the finest monument to Nigerian Independence we could have wished for”. They painted murals, and submitted art works for exhibition, all designed to capture the spirit and euphoria of Nigeria’s emancipation and autonomy. Both Folly and [Nigeria] In 1959 were exhibited in that pivotal exhibition.

The graduation of Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko, and Bruce Onobrakpeya in June the following year marked the end of the Zaria Art Society. That summer, all three became founding members of the Mbari Artists and Writers Cub in Ibadan alongside Ulli Beier and writers Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo and JP Clark. The artist recalls Folly being exhibited in a joint exhibition with Uche Okeke around this t.mes , most likely in the opening exhibition on 20 July 1961, curated by Beier and described by Chinua Achebe as a historic moment. Nwoko then left Nigeria to study scenography and theatre design in France and Japan before establishing a studio in Ibadan on his return in 1963, where he started the theatre arts program at the University of Ibadan and designed stage sets for important plays by the writers in the Mbari Club. He also held another, solo, exhibition at the Mbari Club in 1963. By this t.mes Crowder was his colleague at the university, as secretary of the Institute of African Studies. The artist recalls fondly the t.mes s they spent together at Crowder’s off-campus home and the Mbari Club during these seminal years, describings him as a dear and lifelong friend.

Crowder departed Ibadan in 1964 for UC Berkeley, returning to Nigeria in 1968 where he held various academic positions at the University of Ife (where he founded the Ori-Olokun Workshop), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and finally at the University of Lagos before returning to London in 1979, after almost twenty years in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, in 1967, Nwoko designed and began construction of his New Culture Studios: “my personal studio for painting and sculpture and a residential villa, all of which were constructed using traditional methods and local materials. At this point, the pioneering art institution the Mbari Artists and Writers Club was struggling on account of the grant that had established it initially had run out. To rescue this institution for artists and writers, I decided to relocate the club in its entirety to my studio, a project I planned to accomplish by 1970. As a result, a publishing house was established at the New Culture Studios, which began publishing the New Culture magazine in 1976, along with other occasional art and theatre publications.” This t.mes also marks the unravelling of the euphoria of political independence and the postcolonial crisis that led to civil war (1967–1970). From 1968 on, Nwoko devoted most of his professional life to architecture and furniture design, making paintings such as this exceedingly rare.

We are grateful to the artist for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Bibliography:
Ulli Beier, ‘Demas Nwoko: A Young Nigerian Artist’, Black Orpheus, no. 8, 1960, p. 10-11
Michael Crowder, ‘New Nigerian Artists and Writers’ in Prospect: The Schweppes Book of the New Generation, 1962, p. 153
Michael Crowder, The Story of Nigeria, 1962, p. 257
Michael Crowder, ‘The Contemporary Nigerian Artist : His Patrons, His Audience and His Critics’, Présence Africaine, 1978/1 no. 105-106, p. 130-145
Chika Okeke-Agulu, ‘Nationalism and the Rhetoric of Modernism in Nigeria: The Art of Uche Okeke and Demas Nwoko, 1960-1968’, African Arts, vol. 39, no. 1, 2006, pp. 26–93
Chika Okeke-Agulu, Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twenteth-Century Nigeria, 2015
Demas Nwoko, ‘The New Culture School for Arts and Design’ in Bauhaus Imaginista, edition 3, 2018
Chika Okeke-Agulu,’Mbari Club, Ibadan, and Mbari Mbayo, Osogbo’ in Into the Night: Cabaret and Clubs in Modern Art, 2019 exh. cat. p. 265-285