Aina Onabolu

Aina Onabolu
Born	1882 Ijebu-Ode
Nationality	Nigerian
Known for	Portraiture
Notable work	Portrait of Lady Spencer Savage
Movement	Modern African Art
Patron(s)	Mr Randle, Lagos Town Council,

Aina Onabolu (1882–1963) was a pioneering Nigerian modern arts teacher and painter who was an important figure in the introduction of arts into the curriculum of secondary schools in the country. He was also the major figure in Nigeria that promoted the drawing of environmental forms in a verisimilitudinous style and was known for his early modern work in portraiture.

Aina Onabolu was born in Ijebu-Ode in 1882. His father was a successful merchant and his mother was also a trader. He started painting at the early age of 12, inspired by the cheap re-produced illustrations of Western arts which were prominent in many Nigerian magazines and religious books. By the age of 32, he was able to exhibit his own works and was quite popular as a knowledgeable and skilled artist. He later travelled abroad to study art at Académie Julian in Paris and at a school in London; before his sojourn abroad, he was already a competent and self-taught draftsman. He completed his studies with a diploma in fine arts and a teacher's certificate from St. John Woods College, London in 1922.

In 1909, when the colonial government in Nigeria took control of formal education, the curriculum in the schools was geared towards the provision of suitable education to train clerk position clerks for the colonial Administration government administration. Little was thought of arts education in secondary education until a report recommended the teaching of native indigenous hand craft. Prior to the report, Onabolu had formally presented requests for the introduction of modern arts education in secondary schools but his option was rejected by the colonial education officers. During the time, there were implicit suggestions by the colonial officers that the natural limits of Africans was in pottery and craft.

Onabolu's return from St John Woods, London, in 1922 and Julians academy in Paris and his acquired knowledge of the European technique of painting, anatomy and the characteristics of European art education coincided with a new perspective on introducing indigenous art education in the country. Onabolu, who had taught informally to enthusiastic students began teaching in a few top schools in Lagos such as King's College, Lagos and CMS Grammar School, Lagos. His themes dealt primarily with the science of perspective, drawing and human proportions and watercolor painting. Though there were few teachers on western techniques in art, Onabolu's period started the separation of art and life.

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