Ola Oloidi, a professor emeritus in the department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), died on Monday, November 2, 2020. Here, Art and Ideas offer tributes from some significant players in the Nigerian arts scene.
The death of Professor Ola Oloidi came as a shock to many Nigerians, especially those conversant with his work in the art sector where he is known to have contributed greatly to the development of art history in the country.
Ebeten Ivara, Director General (DG), National Gallery of Art (NGA), described late Prof. Oloidi as a patriarch and pioneer of art history and art criticism in Nigeria.
Ivara said Oloidi pushed art from the sideline to the mainline. “It is no surprise therefore that he became a leading authority in the field both nationally and internationally during his lifetime. He is also credited as the first to research into the History of modern Nigerian art; the first to write the history of art criticism in Nigeria and the first to write the history of art education in Nigeria,” he said.
Another significant voice, Otunba Runsewe, DG, National Council for Arts and Culture said the death of Professor Oloidi is a big loss to the entire (art) sector. “He always believed developing the sector will help this country,” he said. “If I am not mistaken, he has over 25 publications. He also spoke without reluctance concerning anything in the sector. I pray God consoles his family.”
Dr Greg Mbajiorgu, a senior lecturer in UNN described Oloidi as a “teacher of teachers” and one of the few professors in the humanities who supervised over 22 PhDs in Art History and other related fields, the last of which was that of his son.
“He is an art historian, an art critic per excellence, and one of those who have kept those fields alive in the Fine Arts and Applied Arts department in the University of Nsukka,” Mbajiorgu said.
Mbajiorgu recalled a time when the National Universities Commission (NUC) made a policy that those who don’t have a PhD can’t become senior lecturers or professors. “Oloidi was able to take students in sculpting, painting, graphic arts, textiles, ceramics and other fields and enable them relate their work through his special area of art history.
“Today you have sculptors and ceramists who have PhDs in art history. Without Oloidi, the department would probably boast of very few PhDs in Art History today.
“I’m one of those who benefited from his editing. When I wanted to pay him for the work he did on my poems he would insist that it was a pleasure to be part of my work.”
A Professor of Fine Art at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Jacob Jari said Oloidi was his external examiner when he was defending his PhD. “He formed the Art History Association of Nigeria’, which we thought was a brilliant organization,” he said. “If you ask anybody who is conversant with art historical study in Nigeria, he would tell you he (Oloidi) is the godfather of art history in Nigeria.”
Prof. Oloidi studied for his art diploma in 1969 at Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, and later Howard University, Washington D.C. United States, where he had his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Arts degrees in 1973 and 1974 respectively. He joined UNN as a lecturer in 1976, rose to the rank of a professor in the university in 1996, and retired in 2012.
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