Erhabor Ogieva Emokpae, descended from a line of Benin royal chieftains, was born in Benin City, Edo State, Southern Nigeria, in 1934. Emokpae arrived in London in c.1963 and attended Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, now Camberwell College of Arts (UAL). While at CSAC, Emokpae had the opportunity to merge African conceptualisation with Western methods of application. In 1979, Unilever House in London commissioned Emokpae to carve a relief panel in wood, depicting Benin motifs and Western figures associated with the British Empire, industry, and trade, set within the Art Deco interior. Emokpae's work is a masterpiece of dualism, and he is a pre-eminent figure in African Modernist art. Erhabor Ogieva Emokpae died in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1984.
Painter and sculptor Erhabor Ogieva Emokpae, descended from a line of Benin royal chieftains, was born in Benin City, Edo State, Southern Nigeria, in 1934. Benin had been an important and powerful West African Kingdom, a centre of economy and commerce, since the 12th century. Prosperous and technologically advanced, it was highly regarded by Portuguese explorers, the first Europeans to arrive on the coast of West Africa in the 15th century, and by the pre-colonial, early modern European merchants a century later (Osadola, 2025, p.13). The Kingdom's artisans, commissioned by the Oba (King), were organised into guilds and utilised ancient techniques of ivory carving, bronze casting, goldsmithing, and architectural design that represented the tastes of the Benin royal family. Emokpae would have been acutely aware of this pre-colonial history from his formative years, and the significance of the former Kingdom's palaces and artistic practices. In 1951, at the age of seventeen, Emokpae enroled at Yaba Technical Institute (YTI), now Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH). Emokpae's time at YTI introduced him to vocational courses focusing on graphic design, sculpture, and aspects of technical drawing. Emokpae successfully graduated in 1953 and became a commercial artist, initially working within the Federal Ministry of Information and, by 1958, was an established staff member at the advertising agency, West African Publicity (now Lintas). In the 1960s Emokpae's career development led him to seek specialist training overseas.
In c.1963, Emokpae arrived in London to attend Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, now Camberwell College of Arts (UAL, Nigeria234,2026, online). One of London's most historic art schools, its progressive curriculum and approach enabled students to be experimental. Known for directing students towards defined design specialisms and, according to Gavin Lenaghan, Camberwell's training placed an 'emphasis on such disciplines, fine art, illustration, graphic design and interior and spatial design' (Lenaghan, 2019, online). While at Camberwell, Emokpae was able to merge African conceptualisations with Western methods and techniques, emerging as a fully foprmed African modernist. Emokpae's The New Seekers (1969), oil on board, combines graphic composition and painting to create an eerie night scene. The stillness of the night, emphasised by the blood moon's deep red tones, pierces the dense blackness of the sky, which is partially obscured by a greyish-blue mist, applied in geometric blocks of hazy, steel-coloured fog. Ebony shadows emerge, hinting at a trail of people which appear highly visible in the foreground: large looming heads, elongated necks and firmly set shoulders. From the lower left of the work Emokpae subtly creates the sense of a surging mass: patches and marks suggest the tops of many heads, edging forwards, beyond our field of vision. Emokpae's use of the obscure and the abstract is a powerful combination expresing a thematic duality, which resonates with African Modernist art practice, fusing Africanism and Westernism. This duality is evident in his earlier piece, Struggle Between Life and Death (1962, oil on canvasboard), a black-and-white, two-toned work. The orbital centrepiece splits into two halves, black and white, set in opposing monochrome blocks. Both black and white halves hold firm within the space of the other; stamped on the white background is a black handprint, and in the black background, a white handprint, each defining and owning its right to exist. Emokpae graduated from Camberwell in c.1965 and returned to Lagos. Nigeria. Despite his departure from the UK, his work featured in group shows in the UK during the late 1960s, including in London's Commonwealth Institute (1968) and Camden Arts Centre (1969).
By 1972, Emokpae had a senior role in the design department of the advertising agency, Lintas, in Lagos, becoming Creative Director in 1973. He was a founding member of the Society of Nigerian Artists, served as acting secretary, and was a long-standing member of the Lagos Arts Council. In 1977, Emokpae was the creative expert for FESTAC 77, held in Lagos. In 1979, Unilever House in London commissioned Emokpae to carve a relief panel in wood, depicting Benin motifs and Western figures associated with the British Empire, industry, and trade, set within the Art Deco interior (Kei, 2021, pp.66-67).
Erhabor Ogieva Emokpae died in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1984. His work is not currently represented in the UK public domain. Posthumously his work featured in group shows at the Whitechapel Gallery, London (1995), Guggenheim, New York (1996), Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2001), MoMA, New York (2002) and at Nigerian Modernism held at Tate Modern (2025-26).
Joy Onyejiako.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Erhabor Emokpae]
Publications related to [Erhabor Emokpae] in the Ben Uri Library