The Nsukka group is the name given to a group of
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
n artists associated with the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
.
Description
The Nsukka group was known for working to revive the practice of ''
uli
Uli or ULI, may refer to:
Places
*Uli, Anambra, Nigeria; a town
* Uli, Iran; a village
People and figures
* Uli I of Mali (Yérélinkon; 13th century), emperor of Mali
Germanic name
Uli is a name, short for Ulrich or Ulrike (disambiguation) and ...
'' and incorporate its designs into contemporary art using media such as
acrylic paint
Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint made of pigment suspended in acrylic polymer emulsion and plasticizers, silicone oils, defoamers, stabilizers, or metal soaps. Most acrylic paints are water-based, but become water-resistant when dry. Dep ...
,
tempera
Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...
,
gouache
Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouach ...
, pen and ink,
pastel
A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...
,
oil paint
Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. Oil paint also has practical advantages over other paints, mainly because it is waterproof.
The earliest surviving ...
, and
watercolor
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...
. Although traditionally ''uli'' artists were female, many of the artists of the group were male. Some were poets and writers in addition to being artists.
The Nsukka group evolved as a trend that can be sensed in the works of some African artists. It usually reveals itself an original mix of cubism and primitive arts.
In October 1997, the
National Museum of African Art
The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the Washington, D.C., United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African ar ...
of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
launched the exhibition ''The Poetics of the Line: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group'', which also was the inaugural exhibition of the
Sylvia H. Williams Gallery.
Members
*
Tayo Adenaike
*
El Anatsui
El Anatsui (; born 4 February 1944) is a Ghanaian sculptor active for much of his career in Nigeria. He has drawn particular international attention for his "Bottle cap, bottle-top installations". These installations consist of thousands of Alum ...
*
Chike Aniakor
*
Olu Oguibe
*
Uche Okeke
Christopher Uchefuna Okeke (; April 30, 1933 – January 5, 2016), also known as Uche Okeke (), was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.
Background
Christopher Uche ...
*
Ada Udechukwu
*
Obiora Udechukwu
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Description of the group from the National Museum of African Art
Nigerian artists
African artist groups and collectives
University of Nigeria
{{Africa-artist-stub