Nigerian Culture and Modern Art: An Assessment of the Zaria Art Society

Abstract

Culture is dynamic, and is the way of life of a group of people. It is often passed from one generation to the other, which can be seen in their behaviour, thoughts, dressing, among others. Culture is not static, thus it is subject to change. Changes in culture are often associated to religion, politics, socialization, and other factors. In the case of the Zaria Art Society which this paper focuses on, the members of the society blended some aspect of Nigerian culture into the Western formal education that was thought in the Nigerian first institution of Higher learning to award Diploma in fine arts. This paper discourses the Zaria art society and their philosophy of natural synthesis and argues that a good art work should be embedded in the culture of its people, thus it cannot stand in isolation. The paper also exposes that Nigeria has a rich art and diverse culture which existed long before the colonial reign and thus encourages the efforts of the Zaria Art Society in recalling and using Nigerian traditional forms and motifs in their modern art by way of synthesis.