With Help from a Nigerian Prince, a Bold New Contemporary Art Museum Is Set to Open in Lagos

You have to drive around an hour
on a bumpy road from Lagos’s affluent neighborhood of Victoria
Island to reach the pristine grassy site of the Pan-Atlantic
University, Lagos, the location of the new Yemisi Shyllon Museum of
Art, due to officially open this March. 

It is named after Yemisi
Shyllon, a Yoruba prince from Abeokuta, the capital of the Ogun
State in southwest Nigeria, who is arguably Nigeria’s biggest art
collector and the university museum’s main donor. A few years ago,
he reportedly gave $1.7 million to build the museum and maintain it
over a period of 15 years. 

Over the past 40 years, the
67-year-old prince has acquired around 7,000 artworks in addition
to over 55,000 photographic works documenting Nigeria’s many
cultural festivals, now on the verge of
extinction. 

Through the new museum, which
will be operated by and under the ownership of the Pan-Atlantic
University, Prince Shyllon aims to secure his legacy and offer his
art to both a local and global audience. “I want this museum to be a catalyst for art in
Nigeria,” he says. 

In addition to indulging his
passion for collecting, Prince Shyllon has had a busy academic
career, studying engineering at the University of Ibadan, as well
as law at the University of Lagos and the Nigeria Law School. He
earned an MBA from the University of Ife, and has previously acted
as a legal advisor and marketing director. He currently dedicates
his time to managing his investments and his art
foundation. 

Known as the Omooba Yemisi
Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF), Prince Shyllon’s private
collection is home to works by some of the continent’s biggest
names, including paintings by revered Nigerian painter and sculptor
Ben Enwonwu, textile-based works by Nigerian designer and artist
Nike Davis-Okundaye, wall hangings by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui,
paintings by Tola Wewe, and wood carvings by Lamidi Fakeye, among
many others. 

“I fell in love with sculptures
when I was in university and began collecting them,” remembers
Prince Shyllon. “I used to go and read during my undergraduate days
in the library of the school and around our home. My first love was
sculpture; I only later began collecting paintings.”

While the majority of the works
in the prince’s collection are from Nigeria, he regularly sources
art during his travels. His collection encompasses pieces, some
dating from as early as the 9th century, from other African
nations, including Senegal, Togo, South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon.
The prince’s trove also contains some unexpected inclusions, like
works by Salvador Dali. 

“I want to use my collection to
provide opportunities for Nigerian artists,” he says. “The
foundation regularly supports international fellowships, workshops,
and grants for artists and also lends artworks to international
museums.” 

“Lagos is the epicenter of the
art industry in Nigeria,” continues the prince. “I want this museum
to help the children and their education and the outreach of
Nigeria in the future as well as the tourism industry of the
country.”

“Art is a Tool”

The 1,200-square-meter museum,
designed by Spanish-Nigerian architect Jesse Castellote, is
characterized by a cubic-shaped red concrete façade; it’s home to
around 1,200 artworks, 1,000 of which have been donated by Prince
Shyllon. The Pan-Atlantic University, which already had an art
collection before the museum opened, has, according to
Castellote, “already started
receiving donations from artists and collections.”

The museum is currently staging
two inaugural exhibitions: “Making Matter: Materiality and Technology in Nigerian
Art,” situated on the ground floor, and ”Mirroring the Nation:
Art, Society and Politics,” taking place on the upper floor
and surveying the different roles that artists have played in
society. Both are curated by Iheanyi Onwuegbucha from
the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos and are on view until
December 21, 2020. In 2021,
the museum plans to stage three to four exhibitions.

“This is the country’s first
privately funded university museum,” Onwuegbucha said.
“We want to use art here to
teach other things. Object-based learning can inform Nigerian
history and the context of its politics. The museum serves as an
educational resource broader than its art. Art is a tool in this
case.”

“We wanted to engage young
Nigerian curators to work on the shows,” adds Castellote. “What is
most important is that people come to the museum to learn. A museum
can help people know more about their history. Having people from
Lagos come here aids them in understanding more about their culture
and traditions.” 

A Place for Restitution?

Could the new Shyllon Museum
become a potential home for national art treasures from Africa
currently being recalled to the continent? 

While there is an ongoing clamor
to return works to their rightful African homelands after being
stored away for centuries by colonial administrators, Prince
Shyllon argues that it is not yet the right time. 

“I believe it is important to
have these works eventually returned to Africa, but not right now,”
he says. “For now, we are not yet ready to provide the necessary
environment and institutional care that those works deserve. Until
then, there is the need for the contending parties to agree to
recognize Africa’s legal title to the works and be paid annual
royalties while those currently in the possession of the works can
keep their possession for some agreed, fixed number of
years.”

On the other hand, Prince
Shyllon hopes to display ancient African artifacts at the museum on
a temporary basis so that Nigerians and visitors to the country can
view the works. 

“The immediate future plan for
the museum is to engage with the local Nigerian public and educate
them through art,” he says. “On an international level we want to
show the authenticity of Nigerian art.” 

As the prince states, art is a
crucial part of the culture of a people. “It gives uniqueness and
identity to political and economic structures,” he adds.

The Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art
will also complement the exciting art ecosystem in Lagos, which is
thriving. The megacity is in a constant state of pulsating,
energized chaos, and it’s also home to a host of art galleries;
an annual contemporary art
fair, Art X Lagos; the auction house, Arthouse Contemporary; the
LagosPhoto Festival; and much more. The Shyllon Museum is the
newcomer on the block, but one that solidifies the scene with its
philanthropic and educational aims. 

“When you develop your culture
you are developing your country,” Prince Shyllon states. “Culture
and art are absolutely crucial to the health of a
nation.”

The post With Help from a Nigerian Prince, a Bold New
Contemporary Art Museum Is Set to Open in Lagos appeared first
on artnet News.