CELEBRATING THE MASTER CARTOONIST, PAINTER, AND ART HISTORIAN (Being a presentation by Prof. TOYIN FALOLA at a recent Presentation of the book, "Art, Parody and Politics: Dele Jegede’s Creative Activism, Nigeria and the Transnational Space" by Prof. Tunde Babawale Director General Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization in Texas recently.... On behalf of the Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin, the John Warfield Center for African and African American Studies of the same University and the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBACC), Lagos, Nigeria, I greet you all. It is my pleasure to present a book and an award to one of Nigeria’s creative treasures, Baba Dele Jegede. It is an undeniable fact that Professor Dele Jegede’s career has been one of stellar achievements. Not only has he engaged in the academic study of art in its historical development and stylistic contexts, he has also created an inimitable mode of expression through his representational style of painting. As a painter, cartoonist, and educator, Professor Jegede has brought nothing but glory to the Art and the Art world. His work continuously attempts to disrupt the canonical imbalance in the historicization of texts by privileging the African and Black perspective. As a painter, he employs a variety of media to inveigh against economic constructs that perpetuate the subaltern condition of the underclass. As a cartoonist, he dresses acerbic issues in palatable coats for public consumption, as is often at the expense of the powerful. As an educator, he relishes motivating students to be respectful in the essence of divergency even as they seek to contribute to knowledge. His work generally attempts to rupture the boundaries that are installed in the way that we construct and affirm selfhood.Even though it is impossible to cover every phase of Professor Jegede’s extensive successful career, it is imperative at this juncture to give an overview of his inspirational and exemplary career. Professor Jegede got his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (First Class Honors) at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria in 1973, before getting his Master’s degree and PhD in Art History at Indiana University in 1981 and 1983 respectively. Professor Jegede has taught and developed numerous courses in studio Art and Art history—from introductory to graduate level—at Art institutions in Nigeria and the United States. The institutions where he has taught include: Yaba College of Technology, Lagos (Drawing and African Art History); University of Lagos (African Art History); Indiana University, Bloomington (Language); Spelman College, Atlanta, GA (African Art History); Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN (Survey; African-American, and African Art History); and Miami University, Oxford, OH (African-American, and African Art History). He has hundreds of cartoons published in many Nigerian magazines and newspapers. They include: Pocket Cartoon in Sunday Times, 1972-1974; Kole the Menace in Sunday Times, 1975-1979; Kole’s World in Sunday Times, 1984-1989; Dele’s opinion in Times International, 1974-1976; Dele Jegede in Sunday Times (between 1975 and 1985); Several illustrations and magazine covers between 1974 and 1977; and Funny Cords (Originator, contributor, and editor) in Sunday Concord, (July 1991-February 1992). As an artist, he has had many solo and group exhibitions. His solo exhibitions include: Peregrinations: A Solo Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings( Lagos, Nike Art Gallery, April 30-May 12, 2011); New Works: Dele Jegede ( Coleman Center for Arts and Culture, November 1-December 6, 2006); fARTilizer. Hiestand Galleries. October 31- November 22, 2005; Eko Re E (This is Lagos) (Italian Cultural Institute, October 19- November 2, 1991); Paradise Battered ( National Theatre, July 4-18, 1986); Cartoons; Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, October 24-30, 1981; At Goethe Institute, Lagos; July 6- 18, 1978; At the Italian Cultural Institute, Lagos; December 2-11, 1977; At the Gong Gallery, Lagos; December 18-31, 1976; and At the Gong Gallery, Lagos; October 12- 26, 1974. In most of his paintings, Jegede satirizes his society, not just by drawing his themes from happenings within but by approximating the collective yearnings of his people for better life and improved social order. The adventures of Kole the Menace, in his cartoon strips in the Daily Times newspapers in the early 1970s, where he was the Arts Editor and his editorial cartoons perhaps more than any of his other creative interests exposed and endeared him to a great number of people. His tenure as President of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) (1989 – 1992), and, Director, Centre for Cultural Studies, University of Lagos (1989 – 1992) also recorded some remarkable achievements. The registration of the then twenty six year old hitherto unregistered SNA was accomplished in addition to the injection of a new wave of dynamism into the Society. He contributed greatly to the transformation of the Centre for Cultural Studies and the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos. The image of the artist as a first class intellectual was well advanced by Baba Dele Jegede’s personality in the Nigerian Art space. To him, the artist is not just the creative person known only for churning out works from the studio. As important as this aspect is, the Artist he believes, is many times gifted than the average person; a visionary, scholar, philosopher, progressive and universal entity. In addition to a vibrant studio practice, his other numerous interests capture his image of the versatility of the artist. A great Africanist scholar with astute diagnostic and prognostic insight, his chapter in CBAAC’s book: African Unity: The Cultural Foundations (first published in 1988) titled, African Art: The Limits of Tribality, interrogates the pejorative and suffocating mindset of constrictions imposed by Western scholars on contemporary African Art, denying it of dynamism while grudgingly acknowledging its past contributions, pegging its contemporaneous essence to the glories of a distant past. Definitely, more attestations to Professor Dele Jegede’s phenomenal academic fecundity will be highlighted by other speakers in the course of this book presentation. Professor Jegede, in addition to his exhibitions, has also been engaged in curatorial work. His list of curatorial work includes: “Offerings from the Gods.” Lagos State Chapter of the Society of Nigerian Artists, National Theater, Lagos. June-July, 1985; “Art by Metamorphosis: African Art in the Collection of Spelman College” Atlanta, GA, December 1988; “Images of the Nigerian Nation.” Society of Nigerian Artists. National Theater, Lagos, October 1990; “Women to Women: Weaving Cultures, Shaping History.” Terre Haute. University Art Gallery, 2000; and “Contemporary African Art: Five Artists, Diverse Trends”. Indianapolis Museum of Art, 2000. Professor Jegede’s list of publications, journals and books, is very extensive. His latest three publications include: Bruce Onobrakpeya: Mask of the Flaming Arrows. A Critical Analysis of Onobrakpeya’s Works; “Visual Expressivity in the Art of the Black Diaspora: Conjunctures and Disjunctures.”In Gitti Salami and Monica Blackmun Visona, eds. A Companion to Modern African Art.); and “Convergence and Spirituality: Esu in Lagos.” In Esu: Yoruba God, Power, and the Imaginative Frontiers. Professor Jegede also brings his professional commitments to bear on the associations that he is a member of. He serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Pan-African Studiesand he is Editorial Adviser, Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. He is a member of African Studies Association (ASA), Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), College Art Association (CAA), and National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). Not surprisingly, Professor Jegede has won many honors and awards during his illustrious career.He was honored with the Smithsonian Senior Postdoctoral Research Grant, Washington, DC.,1995; ACASA Traveling Award for Cultural Preservation: Art and Archaeology in Africa Program, 1992; Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia, 1987-88; Central Research Grant, University of Lagos, 1984; First Prize, Evan F. Lilly Memorial History of Art Lecture Series, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1982; Nigerian Arts Council Prize for the Best Final Year Student in the Department of Fine Arts (A.B.U.), 1973; T.A. Fasuyi Prize for the Best Final Year Student in Painting, 1973; Y. Grillo Prize for the Best All-Round Final Year Student in Drawing, 1973; and First Prize, Guinness All-Nigeria Higher Institutions Painting Contest, 1972. Professor Jegede is presently a Professor in the Department of Art, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, a position he has held since 2010; He was Chair and Professor Department of Art, Indiana State University, Terre Haute. Indiana. August 2002-May 2005; Interim Chair, Department of Art, July 2001-July 2002; Director, Center for Cultural Studies, University of Lagos, Nigeria, 1989‑1992; Art Editor, Daily Times of Nigeria, July 1974-January 1977; President, Society of Nigerian Artists, November 1989-November 1992; and President, Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), November 1996-April 1998. Like many of his contemporaries who for one reason or the other are now located in the Diaspora and like the patriot that he is, Professor Dele Jegede keeps on giving back to his beloved country through lectures, exhibitions, mentoring and visits. In a 2012 lecture under the auspices of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), in Calabar, he addressed the deplorable conditions that incidentally foretold the current on-going Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike in Nigeria. Professor Dele Jegede, is also a philanthropist. He gives his time and mentoring freely to those requesting same from him. I have privileged information of his pledge to donate books to the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos. Such an offer could not have come at a better time than now when the Nigerian educational system is in dire need of support from all patriots. It is on this note that I fervently pray that his tribe increases and wish him many more creative and fruitful years of service to Nigeria and humanity. Professor Dele Jegede no doubt represents the best in us all. He is our beloved son, in whom we are well pleased. Thank you for listening. Toyin Falola Department of History The University of Texas at Austin 104 Inner Campus Drive Austin, TX 78712-0220 USA 512 475 7224 512 475 7222 (fax) toyinfalola utexas.edu/conferences/africa groups.google/group/yorubaaffairs groups.google/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 06:47:26 +0000
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