Felix Idubor (1928–1991) was a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

from

Benin City Benin City is the capital and largest city of Edo State, Edo State, Nigeria. It is the fourth-largest city in Nigeria according to the 2006 census, after Lagos, Kano (city), Kano, and Ibadan, with a population estimate of about 3,500,000 as of ...

, a city with a rich history of artistic excellence. He was part of a young group of artists in the 1950s and 1960s who raised awareness of the artistic consciousness of African tradition in an emerging and nascent social milieu. He is sometimes considered one of the pioneers of Nigerian

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...

. In 1966, he opened Nigeria's first contemporary

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in Kakawa street,

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

. He was very successful in door carvings and was commissioned to carve doors for prominent firms and individuals such as the Cooperative Bank building at

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

and the House of Parliament in Lagos.

Early life and education

Felix Idubor was born to the family of a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

in Benin city. He started carving at an early age, but met some resistance from his father who felt carving was not a financially productive career choice. He began his

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

at a

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in Benin but later took a break from studies to concentrate on what he felt was his natural choice of occupation, carving. His first artistic choice of subject focused on birds usually carved in wood from the

Iroko Iroko (also known as in Igbo language, '' in the Urhobo language of Southern Nigeria, and as odum in the Kwa languages of Ghana) is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years. This is the common n ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

which were numerous in Benin.Y. A. Grillo; Juliet Highet. 'Felix Idubor', African Arts, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Autumn, 1968), p. 34. He also used the wood from the iroko tree as tools in other carving projects and was quite successful in his chosen path. By the age of seventeen, he was appointed a tutor at the Edo College in Benin with little formal training. In the late 1950s, he earned a scholarship to study at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

after his work gained critical acclaim during an exhibition to coincide with Queen Elizabeth's visit to Nigeria.

Sculptor

After the end of

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, he left the city of Benin and moved to Lagos. However, Lagos which was then the seat of government was also an emerging

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and

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center with high standards of living. To fend for himself, Idubor turned to making

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

craft for sales to African traders and foreign tourists while also finding time to tend to his artistic and later distinctive vision of wood carvings. Although, the African tourism craft form was sometimes called traducible by some, the popularity with tourists and the effort put into training and making the craft encouraged the collecting of

African art African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, su ...

works. By 1953, Idubor was able to hold an

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

of his wood sculptures at the Nigerian Exhibition Center. The exhibition gave him visibility and exposure; a few of his works were bought by American collectors. His work also attracted critical attention. However, it was an exhibition opened by the Nigerian

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, James Robertson which was held to coincide with the visit of Queen Elizabeth that gave him increased exposure. Included in the gift presented to the queen was an Idubor wood carving. In due time, he was later a teacher at a college in Yaba and was given a scholarship to study in London.

Door carvings

After returning from London, he was given his first major project, to design a door for the new Cooperative Bank building in Ibadan. The architect brought in to work on the building chose Idubor for his taste in and talent in carving. Idubor chose a design of three

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...

carved in wood, the three crops signified the three main regions of Nigeria. The

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

fruit for the Eastern region,

cocoa Cocoa may refer to: Chocolate * Chocolate * ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree * Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' * Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...

for the Western region and

groundnut Groundnut may refer to: * Seeds that ripen underground, of the following plants, all in the Faboideae subfamily of the legumes: ** '' Best Basketball Player'', Obinna Udunni ** '' Arachis villosulicarpa'', a perennial peanut species ** ''Vigna sub ...

for the Northern region. The carvings were well received and further opened avenues for new clients who appreciated his work. He later worked with the office of the Oba of Lagos on a wood carving for a

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

door and also with the Nigerian parliament.

Other works

He also succeeded in other material subjects and also experimented with

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

sculptors and concrete casting. His carving of a

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

girl was on display at the Nigerian House, London and some of his works hanged as ornaments on the walls of the National Hall, Lagos. His enigmatic work depicting a woman with a crown and

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

beads on ring road, Benin was a stature that dominated the popular road.Joseph Nevadomsky. Contemporary Art and Artists in Benin City, African Arts, Vol. 30, No. 4, Special Issue: The Benin Centenary, Part 2, Autumn, 1997. p 63. In 1966, he opened his art gallery on Kakawa street, Lagos.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idubor, Felix 1928 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Nigerian sculptors Nigerian expatriates in the United Kingdom