MBAISE ART IN TRANSITION: A STUDY OF MBARI ART SCHOOL IN MBAISE, IMO STATE

Abstract

Mbaise Art School, also known as Mbari Art School refers to artists of Mbaise extraction and members of Mbari Art School. The group was very popular after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war in 1970’s and their creativity has spread beyond traditional art media and ideology, hence they were classified as transitional artists, Transitional period in Nigerian art history lies between Traditional and modern period. Despite the popularity and uniqueness of these artists whose work ardon many galleries in Nigeria, Europe and America, not much scholarly work has been written on them. In view of this problem, this study attempts at documenting the works and achievements of this group in order to project them and accord them the rightful place they deserve in the History of Nigeria art. The study employs a qualitative method of research and data were analyzed descriptively. The was revealed that the ideology of the original Mbaise Art school has been kept alive in the works of some contemporary artists of Mbaise extraction, spearheaded by Evarest Ibe. Others include, Bright Eke, Hycent Nguma among many others. The pioneering efforts of the founders of MbaiseArt School now continues in teh works of these Neo--Mbaise artists.