A STUDY OF PAINTING CAREERS OF SELF-TAUGHT FEMALE NIGERIAN ARTISTS NIKE OKUNDAYE AND PEJU ALATISE

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Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
At the introduction, this thesis proposes that an observable under-representation of women artists (most especially self-taught painters) in Art Historical documentation, is the background which inspired the study. An impression that; the painting careers of self-taught female artists notably Nike Davies- Okundaye and Peju Alatise, have not methodically investigated, is the specific problem of the study. For that reason, the study assesses their painting careers using seven objectives including: ascertaining forms, content, media, style, relationship of their careers and contributions. An eclectic Conceptual Frame work involving the Triopied model (Egonwa, 2012), Triangulation methods of Eisner (1997), Willis (2007),Olson (2013) and others is used as means for appraising form, content and context of art, using self-development or actualisation theories to understand circumstantial contexts, and connoisseurship involving criticism of the paintings. The study‘s scope spans Okundaye and Alatise‘s entire painting careers, and paintings only. The literature covers an overview of self-taught female artists, forms, content, media, techniques and style of the two artists‘ paintings and contributions to the Nigerian art milieu. In chapter three, the research strategically adopts the qualitative design, with a historical and descriptive bias. The study‘s population embraces the universe of female self-taught Nigerian artists, with professional painting practice. The snow-ball sampling technique was used for picking the two artists and a purposive method to select 70 paintings each for scrutiny. The methods for collecting data include interviews and observation. The research Instruments include unscheduled Interview questions, an observation guide, a painting inventory and photography. The data is subjected to an analysis involving mapping out information according to categories matching objectives of the study. The results obtained show that, though from specific enclaves, the artists derive inspiration from a common ethno-cultural Yoruba background (Okundaye being Okun from Kogi and Alatise from Ogun State). Excepting, Okundaye‘s feature of landscapes and animals, the artist‘s painting forms mutually include portraiture, compositions with human figures, mixed media compositions and installations. Their subject matter commonly boarder on women, religion and other social matters. Employing conventional techniques of acrylics, oil paints, water colour, and manipulation of mixed media in ingenious forms characterises the paintings of the two artists. Varying only in intricate details, Naïve naturalism, expressionism as opposed to expressionism, appropriating surrealism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco are traits of Okundaye and Alatise‘s painting styles. The duo have contributed prolific paintings, philanthropic training of females and youths in areas of art, and commissions. The study recommends encouragement of more research on female self-taught artists to augment knowledge on that group. As contribution to knowledge, the study has established the specific nature of forms, content, media, style, relationship, including contributions of Nike Davies-Okundaye and Peju Alatise.