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SubjectFree lesson

NIGERIAN TRADITIONAL ARTS AND CULTURE

ClassNotes Team 7 MIN READUPDATED 17 JUN 2026

CULTURAL AND CREATIVE ART (CCA - FINE ART) JSS3 FIRST TERM

WEEK 1

NIGERIAN TRADITIONAL ARTS AND CULTURE

Performance Objectives

Students should be able to:

  1. Write a brief account of Nok Art Culture.
  2. Discuss briefly the history of the art of Ife.

Content

INTRODUCTION: Traditional art emerged after the period of prehistoric arts. Traditional artists in Nigeria engaged in the creation of traditional artworks using various materials or media. Various traditional arts in Nigeria are discussed under the following headings:

  1. Period
  2. Location/Site
  3. Media used
  4. Characteristics or features style and functions.
  1. NOK ART CULTURE: Nok art culture is the oldest of all the art cultures in Nigeria. It has a rich historical and cultural background which makes it still relevant today.

PERIOD: Nok art culture dated conservatively to between 500 BC and 200 AD.

LOCATION: Nok art got its name from a small village ‘Nok’ near Jemma in Kaduna state

which is equally close to Jos in the plateau state.

MEDIA USED: Nok artworks were executed from clay.

CHARACTERISTICS OF NOK ART

  1. Nok sculptural figures are in terracotta (baked clay).
  2. Animal figures are more represented (detailed) than human figures.
  3. The terracotta animal figures are more naturalistic while the terracotta human figures are
    1. represented in a stylish manner.
  4. Terracotta human figures possess perforated eye pupils, nostrils and lips, triangular eyes
    1. And eyes equally in a segment of a sphere.
  5. Terracotta human figures possess oval, cylindrical and spherical-shaped heads.
  6. Terracotta animal and human figures are free-standing (three-dimensional).
  7. Terracotta human heads possess varying head dress well formed.
  1. IFE ART CULTURE: IFE is believed to be the ancestral home of the Yorubas, with the Ooni of Ife being a traditional ruler.
  1. PERIOD: Ife traditional arts date back to the 9th century A.D or 900 AD.

LOCATION: Ife art culture dominated the Western part of Nigeria, precisely Osun state.

MEDIA USED: Ife artworks were made from clay and metal.

CHARACTERISTICS OF IFE ART

  1. Sculptural works in animal forms are only in terracotta (burnt clay).
  2. Ife figures possess scarifications and are heavily beaded.
  3. Ife figures are symbolic as many of them represent human beings in nearly life-size,

although the head is life-size.

  1. Ife works are mainly in three-dimensional appearance.
  2. Ife art is court art like the art of Benin. The Ooni of Ife controlled the arts and artists.
  3. The hair and beard are not added in the modelled figure but rather are shown with serial

holes which probably act as channels for weaving hairs to make it look real.

  1. Ife works are naturalistic in appearance.
  1. BENIN ART: The people of Benin in ancient times suffered at the hands of the British during an invasion in 1897, in which most of their relief plaques and figurines were taken away by the British, including the Benin Ivory Mask,   which is used as a symbol of

FESTAC 77. Benin art comprises folk art and court art.

PERIOD: Benin art dates back to the 14th and 18th century AD. This is between 1440 to 1897.

LOCATION: Benin is located in the capital of Edo state known as Benin.

MEDIA USED: Traditional artists of Benin used wood, bronze, ivory, clay and stone in creating artworks.

CHARACTERISTICS OF BENIN ART

  1. Works of Benin are in the wood, bronze, ivory, clay and stone.
  2. The bronze head of the Oba of Benin is heavily beaded around the neck. It equally possesses

thick vertical marks on the forehead, bogus cheek, beaded crown and three-dimensional forms.

  1. The bronze head of Queen Mother Iyeobu equally possesses similar features to the

bronze head of the Oba of Benin.

  1. A bronze plaque is a relief or two-dimensional work characterized by three traditional

chiefs of Benin possessing the Benin traditional costume, accessories and staff in their hands.

  1. ESIE ART

PERIOD: The art tradition dated back to about 1100 AD.

LOCATION: Esieis located in an Igbomina Yoruba town, South East of Ilorin and near Offa in Kwara state.

MEDIUM USED: The Esie figures were carved from soapstone.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ESIE ART

  1. Esie men and women statues have beads, bracelets and anklets.
  2. Esie men and women figures are seated on a stool.
  3. All Esie figures have three horizontal straight lines between the eyes and ear and some

figures have vertical lines on the chin and a host of scarification or striated lines on the face.

  1. Esie men and women statues are semi-naturalistic.
  1. IGBO UKWU ART

PERIOD: Igbo Ukwu art dates back to the 9th to 13th century A.D

LOCATION: Igbo Ukwu is located in Anambra state.

MEDIUM USED: Bronze

CHARACTERISTICS OF IGBO UKWU ART

  1. Works of Igbo Ukwu were made from clay and metal, precisely bronze.
  2. Igbo Ukwu bronze works are naturalistic and symbolic.
  3. The bronze pendant represents a ram’s head.
  4. Bronze snail shell is precisely 20.1cm in length which is the shape of a snail shell, a

decorated vessel surmounted by a leopard.

  1. TSEODE BRONZES / NUPE ART (Tada figures): Tsoede art is basically all about monumental bronze figures. Tsoedeis the son of the Atta of Idah who was banished from Idah. He later boarded a bronze canoe and took some bronze works along. He travelled along the river Nile in search of the Nupe kingdom. He highlighted three villages and kept bronze works there namely Jebba and Tada on the Island of Giragi. The villages are now occupied by the Nupe people in Kogi state. Tsoede, the son to the Atta of Idah travelled along the River Niger to find the  Nupe kingdom in the 14th century.He eventually found the Nupe kingdom and settled there.  The Tsoede sculptural works in bronze are seated human figures, and bronze animal figures like ostriches and elephants and are equally figures that are naturalistic. Most of the figures are meant for fertility.

PERIOD: Bronze works dated back to the 13th and 14th century AD and flourished around 1100 AD.

LOCATION: Nupe is located around the middle belt of Nigeria. Bronze works of art were found in the Tada and Jebba village in the present Kogi State of Nigeria.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TSEODE ART

  1. The seated Tada bronze figure possesses broken arms and legs.
  2. The standing Tada bronze figure possesses a complex dress and a disc.
  3. The animal and human figures of Tada are naturalistic and symbolic.
  4. Works of Tada are formed in bronze.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

  1. State the art tradition that is the oldest of other art traditions in Nigeria.
  2. Write short notes on any two art traditions you know.

GENERAL EVALUATION / REVISION QUESTIONS

  1. Highlight the three properties of colour.
  2. Mention five classes of colour and give a detailed explanation respectively.
  3. Mention one contribution of Pa Aina Onabolu towards art development in Nigeria.
  4. State three elements of art and design and explain.
  5. What is music?

READING ASSIGNMENT

Proper Approach to Cultural and Creative Art by Peter Akinyemi(Book 3).

REFERENCE PAGE: Pages 1 – 9. Attempt the revision questions.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

  1. …..is a dominant raw material or medium of Esie art culture. (a) Wood (b) Soapstone (c) Bronze  (d) Brass
  2. Bronze traditional works of Benin were formed through the……(a) saved wax method (b) cire perdue lost wax process (c) etching method (d) modelling method
  3. Which of these art traditions in Nigeria is the oldest? (a) Nok art (b) Igbo Ukwu art (c) Tsoede art (d) Benin art
  4. Clay works of Nok were fired which suggests what term in art. (a) Greenware  (b) Terracotta  (c) Slip  (d) Glaze
  5. Benin art and Ife art are both called …………………..….(a) royal art (b) court art  (c) symbolic art (d) folk art

THEORY

  1. State two features of Nok Art Culture.
  2. Why is Ife art referred to as court art?