THE PROPOSAL TO BUILD A MUSEUM FOR TOMORROW

I do not know how many of you know that the Nigerian Government has concerned itself lately with the preservation of our ancient art. This concern of the government is a very good gesture indeed, but I wonder how many of us are interested in the preservation of our art and culture. It is not quite over half a century ago when the arts of South, Central and West Africa started to free themselves from the protective chrysalis of ethnology in which they lay since they were first known to Europe and the West.

THING OF THE PAST

At first the carved images of our ancestors were not regarded as works of art. They were then collected and preserved until later when art critics realized their value as works of art. As works of art, we ourselves regard them as things of the past today. Rightly enough they are ancient works of art just as any other works of antiquity ever produced by peoples in other parts of the world. But in other parts of the world, especially in the West, the people have always tried to preserve their past.

WAS AT ILE IFE

I do not know how many people who are interested in the fact that the Government has taken the lead to establish museums in this country. This is a very important step to take and in fact the first one in the attempt to preserve the old Nigerian art. Before starting any museum in which to house old works of art, a building has to be erected where the art works could be displayed so that the public and visitors from other parts of the world would come. Well I am glad to tell you that when I went to Ife last week I was able to see the beautiful building of the Ife museum. The architect of the Ife museum is Mr Malins who is working under Mr. K. C. Murray, Surveyor of Antiquities. It is very interesting how they work hand in hand. You have Mr. K. C. Murray who goes round the country trying to collect some of the best works of art for the museum, Mr. Fagg who digs the past and Mr Malins who puts up the building. These three experts have really worked hard to have been able to achieve what we now have as the building of the Ife museum.

IFE EXHIBITION

In this museum of Ife will be housed the beautiful bronzes and terra-cottas of Ife. Also other works of high artistic merit probably from other parts of Nigeria. I suppose you all know that during the early part of this year (1948), there was a wonderful exhibition of Ife bronzes in the British Museum in London. The Oni of Ife had lent these to the trustees of the museum for the exhibition. I was very fortunate to have witnessed the exhibition in London and how it was so well received by the people of Great Britain. A museum such as the one that is being built at Ife performs other functions than the artistic function.

LESSONS THEREFROM

Apart from the fact that art works, both past and present, would be kept so that the public may see them through the succeeding ages, people also learn a lot about their past while on a visit to a museum. Take for instance the national gallery in London, art students study the works of art for their art examination in the museum because there you see so many works of art done by different artists; works or art that would have perished had the archeologist, that is the man who digs up the past, not been able to discover them, had the man who preserves them not been able to do so, or the architect not been able to put up the building.

The museum also performs a social function, especially in the case where people of different nationalities, creeds and religion meet to talk about the works of art in the museum. There you see them talking about the works of art in relation to the people who produce them and the periods of their history.

EVERY ONE HIS OWN

Every nation has its past but woe unto that nation whose past has been left to decay. I do not know how many of you who have begun to give a thought to the preservation of our past. I think that the Oni of Ife has set a very good example by bringing home from London the best works ever produced in Nigeria. That is why I respect the Oni whose interest in the works of his ancestry has given a tremendous fillip to the revival of African art in the west.

During the short talk I had with the Oni, I realized how deep his interest in the Old World and how much more interested he would be in adding to the works of the museum. We also talked about the modern work and what good it would do to have some modern paintings and sculptures side by side with the old work. As this is only an introduction to this talk I can only say that the building of the Ife museum is towering higher and higher and should prove to be a very good museum worthy of any country. I hope that you will develop an interest now at least from the historical aspect of out culture and that more people will follow the example of the Oni of Ife.

^** Table of Contents

1. Thing of the Past
2. Was at ile ife
3. Ife Exhibition
4. Lessons Therefrom
5. Every one his own