Palace scene at the Oba's court
5.000 €
This extraordinary monumental repoussé and chased aluminum panel, created circa 1970 by the renowned Nigerian master Asiru Olatunde (1918–1993), stands as a historical and aesthetic artifact of exceptional value within modern African art and the celebrated Osogbo Art School movement, nurtured in the 1960s under the visionary patronage of Ulli and Georgina Beier. Descending from an illustrious lineage of Yoruba blacksmiths and metalsmiths, Olatunde revolutionized metal embossing on industrial panels such as aluminum and copper, converting metal sheets into intricate narrative friezes where mythology, sacred history, and the courtly ceremonialism of his ancestral culture intertwine. Titled 'Palace scene at the Oba's court', the artwork deploys a masterful compositional layout divided into registers and architectural framing that depicts the sacred majesty of the Oba—the sovereign Yoruba monarch, revered as the earthly incarnation of the deities or *orishas*—surrounded by his entourage of dignitaries, royal guards, musicians with talking drums, and attendants dressed in ceremonial garments ornamented with incised geometric patterns. Executed with supreme technical craftsmanship, Olatunde fuses the high relief of stylized profile faces and almond-shaped eyes with exhaustive background stippling that imparts vibrant kinetic luminosity and a near-textile quality to the metal surface, bridging the ancient woodcarving and bronze-casting traditions of the Ife and Benin kingdoms with 20th-century figurative avant-garde. The institutional and market authority of this work is sustained by the inclusion of Asiru Olatunde's oeuvre in the world's premier museum collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C., Tate Modern in London, the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York, establishing this monumental private collection piece as an asset of major museum-grade importance and fully justifying a market value of 5,000 euros within the international contemporary African art circuit.
TechniqueRelieve en repujado y cincelado sobre panel de aluminio martillado
Dimensions
YearCirca 1970
ArtistOLATUNDE, Asiru
OLATUNDE, Asiru
Asiru Olatunde (Osogbo, Nigeria, 1918–1993) was a distinguished sculptor, metalworker, and foundational figure of modern Nigerian art, internationally celebrated as one of the cornerstone artists of the Osogbo Art Movement (Osogbo Art School). Born into a prominent family lineage of Yoruba blacksmiths and metalsmiths, he mastered traditional metallurgy under his father and grandfather while learning the art of the ceremonial talking drum for local rituals. In the late 1950s, a severe illness prevented him from continuing heavy blacksmithing, prompting him to pivot toward delicate jewelry crafting. His artistic talent was discovered in 1961 by cultural patrons Ulli Beier and Susanne Wenger, who encouraged him to expand into monumental sculpture. Olatunde revolutionized African contemporary art as the first artist to adopt hand-hammered repoussé aluminum sheets as his primary plastic medium, originating a signature technique of chiseled textures and punched dot patterns that depicted Yoruba mythological narratives, biblical lore, and everyday genre scenes. Appointed the first president of the Osogbo Artists Association in 1967, his work achieved vast global recognition within high-end collecting circuits. His monumental relief panels were commissioned for prestigious public and civic landmarks, including the King’s Market in Osogbo, St. Peter’s Cathedral in Enugu, and the Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos, while joining major permanent collections at institutions such as the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C., the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the British Museum in London, and the Newark Museum.
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