Grove City College’s Pew Fine Arts Center Gallery will feature the work of internationally acclaimed Nigerian artist Bruce Onobrakpeya along with folk art from East and West Africa through Oct. 14.
Onobrakpeya, a printmaker, painter and sculptor, is one of the most successful artist sto emerge from West Africa in the 20th Century and a commanding influence on artists in Africa and around the world in the post-colonial period.
His works have exhibited at the Tate Modern Museum in London, National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., Malmo Konsthall in Sweden, the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos, and many other international venues.
Onobrakpeya’s work is complemented in the gallery with pieces of folk art from Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Benin, and across East and West Africa.
“In addition to the beauty and impact of the art on display, this exhibit provides a unique educational opportunity for our students to experience the skill and craftsmanship of African artists. Bruce Onobrakpeya is world-renowned artist whose work has had enormous impact on African and international aesthetics for more than seven decades. To be able to see his original artwork in Grove City, Pa., is a blessing,” Hilary (Lewis) Walczak ’09, director of College Archives and Galleries, said.
The 93-year-old artist’s career covers a gamut of mediums and periods. It often features Christian imagery and stylistic elements derived from traditional African sculpture and decorative art. The show features several notable pieces by Onobrakpeya, including “Fourteen Stations of the Cross,” a depiction of the Passion of the Christ he created at the request of Catholic priests.
In the late 1950s, Onobrakpeya was a founding member of the famed Zaria Art Society – an art collective that developed a synthesis of traditional Nigerian forms with European techniques – and created the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation in 1990, an artist-led non-governmental organization that encourages art and culture by providing artists with opportunities to develop and increasing public awareness of African art and its benefits to society.
The entire exhibit comes to the College courtesy of alumna Jenifer (McMurdy) Mostard ’06 and her husband Brian, whose parents, the late Joop and Joyce Mostard, amassed the artwork over decades living and raising a family in Africa.
Much of the folk art – masks, sculptures, wooden wall hangings, shields, tapestries – came to the Mostards through the course of Joop’s work. Joyce was a close friend of Onobrakpeya. Some of the pieces were gifted to her, while others she purchased to support his career.
The gallery is open from 4 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.
For more about Grove City College, visit gcc.edu.