‘How art collection, appreciation can thrive in Nigeria’

LStakeholders discuss how art collection can become beneficial to both artists and collectors in the country at the presentation of an art book by a foundation to tertiary institutions

AS part of its efforts to popularise art appreciation and collection in the country, the Nero Asibelua Foundation has presented copies of an important book on the subject, Collecting Art: A Handbook to tertiary institutions in the country.

Written by a Lagos-based Spanish architect, Jess Castellote, and Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Fabian Ajogwu, the book was published in 2017 and details everything a potential or existing collector needs to know about all forms of artworks and issues of copyright.

It was a small but quality crowd that attended the presentation event held at Quintessence, Parkview Estate, Ikoyi, Lagos on April 28 with eminent academics, Professor (Mrs) Ebun Clark and her husband, Professor John Pepper Clark, as the guests of honour. Others were Professor Frank Ogiomoh from the University of Port Harcourt, artists and academics, Drs Kunle Filani, Kunle Adeyemi and Ademola Azeez; and artists K.K. Olojo and Olu Ajayi.

Welcoming guests to the event, founder of the foundation, Nero Asibelua, said the essence of donating copies of the book to all Nigerian tertiary institutions offering art was to spread and deepen knowledge of art. According to him, not many Nigerians are knowledgeable about art and its value, and that it was time this changed.  He narrated how his initial poor knowledge of art made him sell a Ben Enwonwu painting cheaply only for the collector who bought it from him to sell the work for over N2 million later to buttress his point.

He said: “I sold in ignorance because I didn’t know better then. It is very unfortunate that most people are not educated enough about art. They are not taking the opportunity to know issues around art and its value. When you have a piece of art and take care of it properly, it will outlive you.  In art, I believe strongly that it’s posterity that counts. Art is the history of life.”

Speaking in the same vein, Professor Clark disclosed that she had always believed that the final point in art production was the collector. She recalled how the Clark family started collecting art in the mid-1960s and how the landscape had since changed.

Professor Clark said: “It was delightful just to buy when we started in 1965, there was no secondary market; no auction house. We bought just because we loved it and we just hung on the wall; there was no fear of theft. ‘The Prince’, the first work we bought in 1965 from Baba Bruce [Onobrakpeya] is still hanging on the wall.  I’m not sure if it’s a happy development for us to have auction houses; you can’t leave your doors open again. And in the art collection, documentation is important. You must document.  It was Baba Bruce who actually documented what he sold to us; when we deliberated on the amount we bought the piece, whether it was 30 pounds or 20, it was Baba Bruce who brought the receipt to us. He documented every piece he sold to us. We must also not forget the role of Mbari Club in Ibadan in the promotion of art. The journal pushed Nigerian creative arts, African arts to the world.  In fact, I’m surprised that not many people know about Mbari.”

Contributing to the discussion that followed, Dr Filani stressed that it was important to develop a holistic curriculum not just for art students but for all Nigerians. This, he noted, would make knowledgeable about art. Professor Ogiomoh, who came all the way from Port Harcourt for the event, agreed with him. “Any investment in art is an investment in knowledge,” he said.

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On why he co-authored the book, Castellote said, “the practice of collecting is still developing in Nigeria and we need to help it grow. We need to help collectors do what they are doing better and for artists to also know the complex nature of their world.”

For Ajogwu, Collecting Art: A Handbook, is to help all players understand issues of proprietary rights in art. “It is to enable everyone; artist, collectors, gallery owners and essentially anyone who is connected to art to understand the intricacies of proprietary rights for an artist, the intellectual property. Guiding them properly to optimise the wealth that they create, to know how to preserve artwork, how to sell it and insurance issues. What are the rights of the artist in relation to, if perhaps you bought a piece of art can someone go and strip it and make T-shirt out of it and make a screensaver out of it?  What are the sub-sectors of those rights? We also look at how to preserve art, how to pass artworks from one generation to another, inheritance tax issues and the whole lot. It’s our own little contribution to the field of art collection.”

Yaba College of Technology, University of Port Harcourt, Delta State University, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos State Polytechnic and Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education were among recipients of copies of the book.