Newark Museum presents The Art of Translation: The Simon Ottenberg Gift of Modern and Contemporary Nigerian Art an exhibition on view
Olu Oguibe From the Totem Series, 1990 Watercolor on paper, H: 22.25 in, W: 24.875 in The Simon Ottenberg Collection, gift to the Newark Museum, 2012 2012.38.40Since Nigeria’s early push for independence, artists have drawn upon cultural and aesthetic traditions, translating their meanings, forms and functions as they navigate the country’s evolving social and political landscape. This exhibition presents an historical overview of these artistic translations, with works by 13 artists spanning the 1940s to 2000. They include Akinola Lasekan, Uche Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Jacob Afolabi, Obiora and Ada Udechukwu, Chinwe Uwatse and Olu Oguibe. The selection presented here is part of a major gift of 145 works of modern and contemporary African art donated to the Newark Museum in 2012 by Dr. Simon Ottenberg, emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of Washington, and a pioneering scholar of modern and contemporary Nigerian art. www.newarkmuseum.org
