Ife Art exhibition begins world tour - Kicks off in Santander, Spain

By Adewale Oshodi updated: Friday 26-06-2009

One of the items on displayIle-Ife, the cradle of the Yoruba race, has such a beautiful history that it is even believed that human existence started in the town.

Today, the Yoruba people who have roots in Ile-Ife, can be found in Benin, Togo, Liberia, Sierra-Leone, Ivory Coast, Cuba, Brazil, United States, among other countries of the world.

Now, in order to showcase the history and art of Ile-Ife, to the world, a landmark exhibition, Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria, has kicked off an international tour, starting at the Fundación Marcelino Botín, in Santander, Spain.

The exhibition, which started on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, will end on Sunday, August 30, 2009. The exhibition features more than 100 extraordinary bronze, terra-cotta, and stone sculptures, ranging in date from the ninth to the 15th centuries, and many of these have never been on display outside of Nigeria.

The next venue of the exhibition will be in Madrid, in September, organized by the Spanish Ministry of Culture. In early 2010, the exhibition will be presented at the British Museum, in London, before beginning its North American tour.

Museum for African Art President, Elsie McCabe said, “the selection brought together in Dynasty and Divinity is profoundly moving, both in its beauty and by the intense human emotions that motivated Ife artists. In addition, this is the first exhibition outside of Ife itself to focus exclusively on these remarkable works, and thus the first to offer a vivid portrait of the culture of this ancient Yoruba town.

“The exhibition reminds us that the legacy of Ife art extends far beyond the boundaries of Nigeria, continuing to inspire people and cultures across the globe. The Museum for African Art is thrilled to be working in partnership with the Fundación Marcelino Botín on this major project,” McCabe said.

Over the course of some four centuries, artists at Ife created sculpture that ranks among the most aesthetically striking and technically sophisticated in the world.

Today, the city of Ife is still a spiritual heartland for the 29 million Yoruba people living in Nigeria and countless descendants in the Americas and elsewhere in the world.

The present Ooni, or traditional ruler, of Ife, His Royal Majesty, Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade, Olubase II, heads one of the longest surviving monarchies in the world.

Some of the objects in the exhibition, including a copper mask said to represent the 14th century ruler, Obalufon II, were kept in the Ooni’s palace until the 1950s, when they were transferred to the Nigerian Department of Antiquities for purposes of conservation, study, and display.

Dynasty and Divinity reveals the extraordinarily creative range of Ife art through a diversity of objects that includes handsome idealised portrait heads, exquisite miniatures, expressive caricatures of old age, monsters, lively animals, and sculptures showing the impressive regalia worn by Ife’s kings and queens.

Together, these illuminate one of the world’s greatest art centres and demonstrate not only the technological sophistication of Ife artists, but also the rich aesthetic language they developed in order to convey cultural concerns.

The sculptures in the exhibition demonstrate the dignity and self-assurance readily associated with the idea of dynasty and the violence and misfortune that could befall human beings. Several superbly crafted copper alloy and terra-cotta heads and figures, for example, are expressive representations of the notion of authority, while startling representations of disease and deformity, rendered in stone and terra-cotta, show the afflictions that may result from both divine and worldly forces.

Among the exhibition’s many masterpieces are a group of life-size copper portrait heads, carved stone animals, and the spectacular seated male figure found in the town of Tada, Nigeria, shown dressed in an elaborate textile.

Like many of the objects in the exhibition, the figure, dating from the late 13th or early 14th century, was still part of a shrine in use in the early 20th century.

Two important bronzes from the Kingdom of Benin show the link between Ife and Benin, whose traditional ruler is thought to have descended from the royal Ife dynasty.

All of the objects in Dynasty and Divinity are on loan from the Nigerian National Commission of Museums and Monuments and are a testament to the Nigerian Government’s commitment to preserving and sharing the country’s rich heritage.

“The Nigerian Government is very proud to present this exhibition and to be able to share these treasures with people all over the world.” said Dr. Joseph Eborieme, director-general of the National Commission of Museums and Monuments.