100 Years After First Show, Oyebanji Shines
• Honours The Late Artist With Museum, Deepens Study Of Master Carver • Plans To Turn Ise To A Tourism Haven • Ojudu, Shyllon, Okundaye, Wale Ojo- Lanre, Others In Board of Trustees Of Olowe Of Ise Arts Foundation
AN over- wrought emotion filled the air this Wednesday afternoon. The air was windy and dusty from the road construction on that axis of Ekiti State: Ado- Ikere- Ise. The harmattan wind tickled trees lined on the road, hugging their leaves tight, as it whistled past.
On Ofingba Street, Ise- Ekiti, there was a cacophony of honking horns and buzzing motorcycles. A palpable excitement filled the air, as residents trooped out to welcome guests into this cluster of mud houses.
Walled by a shade of sadness and blush of shame, the buildings were in derelict condition. There was a glimpse in paradox, as the houses did not reflect great art work produced in the place. They looked abandoned. Their earthen colour had faded: The houses, 11 in all, which bore witness to history, will soon give way to civilisation.
With a mixture of surprise and astonishment, one of the houses provided shelter for the late master carver, Olowe Ajalemo, popularly known as Olowe of Ise. That was where the sculptor to kings listened to sound of axes chopping wood. He waxed lyrics for Ogun with his woods. And most of his dialogues with woods were at the back of his house, where his sharpening stone, over a century now, was.
One of the buildings was where he was buried: The house his father built. It is believed in Africa that great men, like Olowe, were not supposed to be buried in their houses so that their power did not die with them.
Residents had gathered by a slab where the late sculptor worshipped Ogun, the god of iron. Ogun was his creative muse and he made sacrifices on that slab to appease his ancestors who handed the craft over from generation to generation.
As an Ogun priest, Olowe had a room, which no one entered except during the Ogun Festival. A couple of days earlier before the journey to immortalise Olowe began, nine dogs were slaughtered to propitiate Ogun on that slab. A few of his works left in family custody were on display that day and won’t be available again until next year.
Everybody was expecting the commissioning of Olowe museum. News had gone round about plans by the Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, to immortalise the late master carver and sculptor to kings, by transforming his home into a museum – The Olowe of Ise Museum – to serve “as a testament to the remarkable craftsmanship, artistry, and cultural significance of the world- renowned carver.”
In time past, Ise was known for its art. Olowe was one of the artists who made the town brim with talents. Today, that fame has left the town and only a few people know much about Olowe and his art.
In spite of the honours abroad, he has had no mention in high circles in his town, in his state of origin, or in his country.
Between March 15, 1998 and September 7, 1998, the National Museum of African Art staged an exhibition of 35 major works by Olowe and was titled: Olowe of Ise: A Yoruba Sculptor to Kings. Objects at the show included, a palace door and bowl with figures, shrine figures, veranda pillars, toys, containers, and a mask.
“An artist of universal appeal, Olowe of Ise was unique among Yoruba artists and remains without peer,” wrote National Museum of African Art ( NMAFA) director, Roslyn A. Walker, in the catalogue of the show.
Paul Richard had written in Washington Post after visiting the show’s opening, “this important exhibition has given to Olowe, alone among that company, an international retrospective, a volume for the library, a story and a name.”
Though African works of art such as the Benin Bronzes and Bronze Head from Ife head have been traditionally identified by the name of the ethnic group that produced them or by a particular style of art, the individual artists who created them were anonymous. However, Olowe defied this anonymity.
As early as 1924, his carving ( a door and lintel ensemble from the royal palace at Ikere) was exhibited at the Nigerian Pavilion, British Empire Exhibition, Wembley, London. This work of art was subsequently acquired by the British Museum.
Unto Ise, A King Is Born ORN
Bin 1873, Olowe of Ise was a wood sculptor and master innovator in the African style of design known as Oju- ona.
Olowe, originally Olowere, was born in EfonAlaiye, a town known as a major cultural centre in Yorubaland, but he lived most of his life in Ise. He was initially employed as a messenger at the court of King Arinjale, the Oba of Ise.
His post was elemoso, royal messenger or page. Hundreds of such servants — most of whom were slaves, hostages, captives or else their descendants — worked within the palace. Olowe, like the others, had the right half of his head shaved to show his lowly rank.
Nobody remembered how he started to make sculpture, but his gifts were soon apparent. His style was distinct such that his works were unique from other palace carvers. Other palace woodworkers carved their reliefs shallowly. Olowe, in contrast, cut his figures deeply, and put them into motion.
The figures he depicted — the pecking birds, the servants, the Englishmen in litters, the bearded kings on horseback — seemed to turn in space.
The allegorical presentations of Olowe’s works often embodied and accentuated the wealth and power of the rulers who commissioned the work. Though the themes of his carving were established by patrons with strict traditions, he was permitted to experiment with styles and forms.
He strove to convey his emotional and spiritual state in each of his carvings, which were densely laden with philosophy and provided a direct sense of how the artist viewed each scene, interpreted through his eyes, mind, and heart.
Loved by kings and revered by warriors, Olowe’s fame spread among kingdoms and he was conferred the title of ‘ master sculptor’ by his contemporaries.
Sadly, after his death in 1938, no one in his community cared to preserve his works for posterity. Some years after his passing, the British Museum’s William Fagg journeyed to Ise, Ikere, Ilesa and Idanre to see Olowe’s works in situ.
Unfortunately, he found some lying around abandoned in courtyards, deteriorated by rain and wrecked by insects while some were in fair condition and needed to be polished.
To keep Olowe’s work alive, Fagg took a picture of the items he found, penned articles about them. After Fagg’s commentary on Olowe’s life and works, other scholars travelled to Ise and other communities Olowe worked in, to document his life and work.
In 1964, the Englishman John Picton travelled to Ise and Ikere to document Olowe’s artistic life. Years later, in 1988, the American professor, anthropologist and author, John Pemberton III, also travelled down to Ise and Ikere to explore Olowe’s works.
However, renewed interest on the master carver is being spearheaded by Senator Babafemi Ojudu, a collector, journalist and politician.
Ojudu, speaking with The Guardian in his Ado Ekiti country home, said: “I first encountered Olowe of Ise about 15 years ago. An American friend of mine, Kathleen Mead, who works at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, invited me to visit. She said she had a surprise for me. I arrived at the vast premises, and she led me to this fairly big space housing the works of Baba Olowe, also known as Olowe Ise. ‘ Meet your statesman and his body of work’, she said to me. My mouth was agape. I went around, looked at the works, and sought out Olowe’s profile.”
Surprisingly, “no museum in my state, and neither in the whole of Nigeria, houses any of his works. His work and style of carving are not taught in our schools, but here we are in another man’s country, and they are putting high value on the work of the unlettered carver, celebrated all over the art world and studied in most of the reputable art schools for his unique style of carving,” Ojudu said.
What pained Ojudu was the assertion in the Western media that there was no living descendant of the Olowe family, which he knew was not true. He was even angered by the fact that people around could not properly represent the image of the family.
“I sought and got in touch with the Olowes and after several rebuff, I was able to make headway,” he said.
He wrote a series of articles and stories on need to immoralise the sculptor to kings. He wrote a proposal to the Ekiti State government, which was adopted by Governor Oyebanji.
In December, the Governor, accompanied by Ojudu; the Arinjale of Ise, Oba Adetunji Ajayi and other prominent leaders, led a visit to the home of Olowe, where government promised to build a museum in his name. The governor had noted all Olowe’s works from abroad