Bruce Onobrakpeya premieres exhibit at the college
By Matthew Purucker · News Editor
The college gallery is displaying an African art exhibit highlighting the work of Nigerian artist Bruce Onobrakpeya in the Pew Fine Arts Center through Oct. 14.
The show has traditional art from Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and elsewhere across West and East Africa, including pieces from Onobrakpeya, who is one of Africa’s most influential post-colonial creators.
Onobrakpeya is a printmaker, painter and sculptor, often featuring Christian imagery and traditional African art elements in his work. The show spotlights several pieces, most notably his “Fourteen Stations of the Cross,” which illustrates the Passion of the Christ. Based on that artwork, Catholic priests commissioned the 93-year-old artist to create other Christian pieces throughout the 1960s and 1970s, according to the National Museum of African Art.
“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 (a) world-renowned artist whose work has had (an) 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,” Director of College Archives and Galleries Hilary Walczak said to the college in a Sept. 8 news release.
This gallery contains the private Mostard family collection of Onobrakpeya’s work. Joyce Mostard bought and received works in this collection over at least 50 years. Mostard had a close friendship with Onobrakpeya when she and her husband, Joop, lived in Africa and continued that relationship after coming to the United States. Joyce’s son Brian and his wife, Jenifer, a college alumna, brought those art pieces, including folk art such as masks, sculptures, shields, tapestries and wooden wall hangings, to present at the college.
Before Grove City College, Onobrakpeya’s work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Lagos, Nigeria, the Tate Modern Museum in London and Malmo Konsthall in Sweden, along with the National Museum of African Art in Washington and other international venues. Even these popular museums did not display all the art that will be presented at this show.
In the late 1950s, Onobrakpeya helped found the Zaria Art Society, a collective blending traditional Nigerian art with European techniques. A native of Agbarha-Otor, Nigeria, he also created the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation in 1990 to develop and support African artists and increase the public perception of African art.
The gallery is open weekdays from 4 to 8 p.m., with a 1 to 5 p.m. viewing on Saturdays. It is closed on Sundays.
“I hope students and the community are able to come and experience this art and learn about the amazing art styles of Bruce Onobrakpeya, as well as traditional African Art. Each show we do in the gallery is unique and different from the next, so we are just excited to bring something new to campus,” Walczak said.
