Museum National Theater, Lagos

National Theatre Art Highlights

With over 70 historic works by major Nigerian artists including Erhabor Emokpae (1934-1984), Yusuf Grillo (1934-2021), Isiaka Osunde (1936-1997), Lamidi Fakeye (1928-2009), Felix Idubor (1928-1991), Agbo Folarin (1936-2010) and Amos Odion (1943-2014), the National Theatre has arguably the most significant collection of modernist art held in a public institution in Nigeria today.

A sizeable number of the works are architectural embellishments specifically commissioned to not only enhance the new theatre complex built in 1976 but also to herald FESTAC’77.

Diverse in media and embracing mostly themes of celebration, they range from stained-glass paintings, and mosaic murals to reliefs in wood, polyester resin and copper, used to fashion friezes and column accents. The collection also boasts of several remarkable free-standing sculptures also in wood, ciment fondu and wrought iron.

Pioneer modernist, Erhabor Emokpae was charged with commissioning and overseeing all the artworks for the National Theatre. Importantly, he also created the famous FESTAC ‘77 logo, an adaptation of the mask of Queen Idia of Benin. It quickly became a global symbol for Black culture.

Prominent at the VIP entrance and wrapped around the theatre’s frontal façade is a polyester resin frieze by Emokpae. The centrepiece is a magnificent Queen Idia mask, moulded in high relief and flanked by two sections of a golden world map. These are surrounded by clusters of bodies and abstract design elements that appear to be radiating energy, symbolising a call to the Black race all over the world to assert their identity and collective pride while celebrating their diversity.

A pair of mosaics at the VIP entrance by Erhabor Emokpae welcomes visitors at the VIP entrance. They can be read as an “allegory of the creation of music”. Through colourful geometric shapes and curvilinear lines, Emokpae conveys his message of celebration. He also successfully captures the boundless energy with which they float suspended in the picture plane. Traditional masks and musical instruments are displayed in their spiritual essence, within the masquerade pantheon’s completeness through its embrace of a multiplicity of art forms, from painting and sculpture to performance and music.

The National Theatre is populated with exquisitely carved wooden panels, a few of them by renowned sculptor Lamidi Fakeye. These wood friezes provide an exquisite catalogue of everyday scenes in farming communities, a beautiful display of traditional fashion, as well as a presentation of cultural values and rich religious forms within Yoruba culture.

On the first floor of the VIP section is a monumentally-sized sculpture by Isiaka Osunde. It features ten faces carved out of individual blocks of wood. Assembled in an alternate fashion, five faces gaze in one direction while the rest look the other way. Symbolically, they welcome people from all corners of the earth to the theatre, their evocative and inviting demeanour foretelling a great celebration.

Yusuf Adebayo Cameron Grillo, one of Nigeria’s most celebrated artists, created the magnificent stained-glass windows on the top floor of the VIP section. These works exhibit a mastery of geometry coupled with Grillo’s typical portrayal of women and musicians within traditional Yoruba society. Here, a band of five entertainers gain prominence with a drummer assuming the focal point to the left of the viewer while the others take up positions as our attention shifts to the right of the foreground. The reverberating drum and sekere set the tone. Captured in the abstracted shapes permeating through the rest of the plane, the rhythm envelopes the figures in the spirit of the dance.

The National Theatre’s spectacular art collection is a celebration of the very best of Nigerian creativity and culture. The works have been restored and preserved during the refurbishment of the National Theatre.