Uche Okeke

Life and work

Okeke attended St. Peter Claver's School, Metropolitan College, and Bishop Shanahan College between 1940 and 1953, showing an early interest in drawing and painting.^[4] Before studying Fine Art at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, he exhibited taxidermy work and had solo exhibitions in Jos and Kaduna.^[4] In 1971, Okeke joined the University of Nigeria in Nsukka as a professor and helped develop the "Nsukka School" style.^[5] He served as lecturer and acting head of Fine Arts at Nsukka from 1971 to 1985, transforming the curriculum to focus on African indigenous art.^[6]

Okeke opened a cultural centre in Kafanchan that later became the Asele Institute in Nimo, a major repository of mid-20th century African art.^[6] While he was a second-year student in 1958, Okeke helped establish the Zaria Art Society; this group resisted the imposition of European art school concepts onto young artists in Africa.^[7][3] Key figures in Nigerian modernism such as Yusuf Grillo, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Oseloka Osadebe, and Demas Nwoko were among the founders of that society.^[7] His mother, who practiced Uli design, served as an inspiration for Okeke; he considered drawing and line-work essential to his artistic path.^[8]

What the cited sources add

The Biennale Arte 2024 account states that Okeke founded the Zaria Art Society with Demas Nwoko and Simon Okeke while a second-year student at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology.^[3] The same source notes that Okeke painted a Post-Impressionist-inspired portrait about age twenty-six, a year before the Natural Synthesis manifesto and Nigerian independence.^[3] The Biennale account describes Okeke as looking "relaxed, melancholic, beautiful, ready for the dawn of a new Nigeria" in that portrait.^[3]