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"Untitled" by Akinola Lasekan (Nigerian) - Oil on board / 1967 - Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art, Pan-Atlantic University (Lagos, Nigeria) #WomenInArt #AkinolaLasekan #Lasekan #art #artText #BlueskyArt #YemisiShyllonMuseumofArt #YSMA #Pan-AtlanticUniversity #NigerianArt #AfricanPortrait #NigerianArtist
Painted in 1967, a few years after Nigeria’s independence, this untitled portrait reflects artist Akinola Lasekan’s commitment to portraying Nigerians with seriousness and grace rather than as ethnographic types. Recognized as a pioneer of Nigerian modernism and especially admired for portraiture, Lasekan combined formal training under British educator Kenneth Murray with close observation of everyday people, using color and light to affirm their individuality. This vertical bust-length portrait depicts a Black woman facing slightly left against a curtain-like wash of mint and teal greens. Her deep brown skin is modeled with warm highlights across her forehead, nose, and collarbones, and a small scar on one cheek. She wears a tall, carefully wrapped pink and peach head tie that twists into a knot above her head, echoing the soft folds of cloth at her shoulders. Her blouse is patterned with narrow vertical stripes of rose, coral, and pale cream, as its rounded neckline frames the strong column of her neck. Long gold earrings with rounded drops hang just below her jawline. Her dark eyes are focused, but not on us. Her lips are gently closed, giving her expression a mix of composure and quiet resolve. Soft, blended brushstrokes keep surfaces smooth while faint vertical bands in the background suggest fabric behind her, keeping all attention on her calm, dignified presence. The woman’s elaborate head wrap, striped dress, and possible facial marks signal cultural rootedness, yet her direct, weighing gaze feels unmistakably contemporary. Set against the luminous green field, she appears neither idealized nor romanticized, but present as a thinking person who holds our look. By centering a Black woman as the sole subject, with no narrative scene around her, Lasekan quietly challenges colonial hierarchies that had long marginalized Africans. The work conveys beauty, self-possession, and the importance of seeing Nigerian women as protagonists in their own visual histories.
November 19, 2025 at 10:19 PM
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Abike by Akinola Lasekan (Nigerian) - Pastel on paper / c. 1940s - Hampton University Museum (Virginia) #womeninart #portrait #art #pastelpainting #nigerianart #hamptonuniversity #artwork #fineart #portraitofawoman #AkinolaLasekan #nigerianartist #modernism #womensart #pastel #beauty #smile #artbsky
Akinola Lasekan was born S.A Oladetimi in Owo, Ondo State in 1916 and changed his name in 1941. He was one of the pioneers of Nigerian modernism in art who was famous for portraiture. He was a self-thought artist before his colonial art education by the then British administration in the early 20th century. He was part of the first set of students formally trained by the English art teacher, Kenneth Murray who was sent to Nigeria by the colonial education department. His career started as a textile designer with the Compagnie Française-Africaine Occidental in 1935. Between 1936 to 1940 he worked with the Church Missionary Society (CMS) Bookshop, Lagos where he created bible story illustrations and calendars. In the 1940’s, he became one of Nigeria’s first indigenous formal art educators and taught in government colleges and mission schools. In 1961, he joined the faculty of the new School of Fine Arts, now the Department of Fine and Applied Art, of the University of Nigeria Nsukka. Lasekan’s artworks capture Nigeria’s landscape, people, culture, and political climate in the 1940s and 50s. His 38-year art career brimmed with beauty, innovation, and advocacy. He utilized easel painting to express the beauty and humanity of Nigeria and its people while simultaneously attacking the British colonial system with nationalistic political cartoons. His mastery and use of these Western art forms contradicted the narrative of European superiority and African inferiority. Abike portrays a beautiful young woman, likely in her early twenties, with dark complexion, smooth skin, expressive eyes, and large gentle smile. Her hair is under a large lavender headwrap scarf. She is wearing a loose-fitting light pink top with small, bright floral and geometric patterns. Set against a muted mustard and pastel yellow background, our focus is drawn to her beauty and smiling expression as she looks off to her right.
February 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM