Justus D. Akeredolu was born into a chieftaincy Yoruba family in Owo, Ondo State, Southwestern Nigeria, in 1915. Akeredolu taught the craft specialisation of thornwood carving, small-scale sculptures depicting miniature scenes and characters. He gained a scholarship to study in London at the British Museum, Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts and the Institute of Archaeology, UCL. Akeredolu was a pioneering Nigerian modern artist who combined careers as an archaeologist and a sculptor. Justus D. Akeredolu died in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1984.
Sculptor Justus D. Akeredolu was born into a chieftaincy Yoruba family in Owo, Ondo State, Southwestern Nigeria, in 1915. Akeredolu's early career in 1930s Nigeria focussed on teaching ancient West African arts and crafts techniques to pupils in local government-run schools (Stevenson, 2020, p. 155). Akeredolu's methods attested to his passion for passing on the traditional practices of West African carving, and he served as a master craftsman who directly disseminated his techniques and historical knowledge to empower Nigerian art students. Akeredolu sought to ensure that the ancient Yoruba community maintained a highly skilled artisan culture for posterity. Akeredolu taught the craft specialisation of thornwood carving: miniature sculptures made from the thick thorns of the native Ata or Ogungun tree, also known as the silk-cotton tree, with its cotton balls encased in large, hanging pods and their trunks and branches coated with protruding thorns. Akeredolu's sense of the importance of handing down this specialised technique, and his own experimentations of thornwood carving, were borne out of a profound sense of loss in local knowledge. The colonial administration, missionaries, and Eurocentric education impacted West African material culture to the point that the silk-cotton tree, once used to weave West African cotton clothing, was a vanishing commodity. Akeredolu's fervour in sustaining the ancient legacy of West African miniature thorn wood carving was culturally essential, and Akeredolu propelled it into the arena of Modern African art.
In 1938, the touring Empire Exhibition, first held in Glasgow, included Akeredolu's miniature carvings alongside those of Nigeria's leading artists. Later, his pieces were selected for exhibition in 1945 at the Berkeley Galleries, in London, owned by the respected Jewish émigré, William Ohly, who keenly supported African art as a connoisseur and as a trained sculptor under Hugo Lederer in Berlin, c.1900s (ArtUK, online, nd). In 1940, still in Nigeria, Akeredolu set up an art studio in Lagos with his friend and peer, the Nigerian painter Akinola Lasekan. In the early 1950s, Akeredolu received the coveted Government scholarship to travel abroad to further his art education and promote his unique sculptural work (Tate, 2025, p. 21).
In 1954, Akeredolu arrived in London, England, to begin intensive study at 'a number of London institutions, including the British Museum, Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts and the Institute of Archaeology, where his focus was museum technology.' (Stevenson, 2020, p.155). Akeredolu maintained his naturalistic miniature sculptural work, emblematic of his exquisite technical acumen. Boy balancing on one hand (c.1930s), is less than eight centimetres tall, yet the sculptor fully captures the exuberance of unfettered youth. The agile young man balances on his left hand in a handstand, his arm firmly planted on the ground. His right arm is bent, and the hand forms a fist. His acrobatic feat is steadied by the equilibrium of his head and curved back, with Akeredolu cleverly positioning the figure in a gymnastic pose that defies gravity. Akeredolu’s anatomical accuracy captures the muscular details of the rounded back, raised thighs, and knees bent above the body. The precarious composition combines elements of human movement and imbalance, while conveying the figure's remarkable physical strength and prowess. Furthermore, Akeredolu captured many aspects of West African life in his artwork, transporting the viewer into a cultural realm with the greatest of ease through his characterisations. From acrobatic forms to everyday family scenes, women working and children playing, Akeredolu's figures adeptly move between realism and stylisation, drawing the viewer into tiny enchanted kingdoms, reminiscent of ancient West African Nubian miniatures. Akeredolu also produced full-scale African busts, examples of which were displayed in Tate Modern's exhibition, Nigerian Modernism (2025-26). Akeredolu's Head of a Nupe Woman from Nigeria (undated) presents an imposing portrait, with full lips and prominent nose, while a feminine softness is apparent in the rounded lift of the cheekbones. The Muslim modesty scarf slips away, revealing the decorative front and sides of her hair and beaded necklace; Akeredolu likely worked from his imagination.
Akeredolu's art studies in England shaped his archaeological practice, and upon his return to Nigeria in 1954, he secured a post in the Government Antiquities Department at the Nigerian National Museum in Lagos, followed by archaeological work with renowned British Museum archaeologist and curator, William Fagg, during his 1950s excavation of Nigerian material culture. (Stevenson, 2020, p.155). Akeredolu's career remained dedicated to exploring Nigerian antiquities and to his carving. Akeredolu died in Lagos, Nigeria in 1984. His work is held in the UK public domain in the British Museum and Government Art Collection. Posthumously, his work featured in exhibitions at the Hunterian Museum (1989) and Tate Modern (2025-26).
Joy Onyejiako.