Davies-Okundaye, Shylon, three other Nigerian contempory artists with historical impacts

Nigeria has a long history of visual arts stemming from its many ethnic groups, each with its own traditions.

Here are top 5 Nigerian artist with historical impacts and also influencing the Nigerian art scene of today.

Prince Yemisi Shyllon
Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon is a prince of Ake in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. He hails from the Sogbulu and Ogunfayo lineage of the Laarun ruling house of Ake in Egbaland.

The Omoba is currently Nigeria’s largest private art collector, with over 7,000 artworks of sculptures, paintings and other media, as well as over 55,000 photographic shots of Nigeria’s cultural festivals.

Josephine Oboh-MacLeod
Oboh-MacLeod was born into the family of Chief Major Humphrey Etafo Oboh (Adolor of Ugboha Kingdom/Okakulu of Emu Kingdom and Chief Mrs Comfort Eimiebaluye Oboh, the Edeniokun of Emu Kingdom, Ehan, Edo State, Nigeria.

She is the first African to establish an African art gallery, called “Timbuktu”, in the UK and the only black African woman who owns an art cultural center in Scotland. She is a contemporary art collector in Scotland with over 6,000 collections.

Nike Davies-Okundaye
(born 1951), also known as Nike Okundaye, Nike Twins Seven Seven and Nike Olaniyi, is a Nigerian batik and Adire textile designer.

She is one of the largest of its kind in West Africa, she boasts a collection of about 8,000 diverse artworks from various Nigerian artists.

Peju Layiwola is an art Historian and visual artist from Nigeria who works in a variety of media and genre.

She is listed as a “21st Century Avant-Garde” in the book Art Cities of the Future published by Phaidon Press.

Damola Victor Ayegbayo
Is a Nigerian Contemporary artist from in Inisha, Osun State, Nigeria.

He has the largest number of individuals painting and visual artworks in Nigeria And also the youngest largest arts holder with over 1500 personal works. Some of his artworks has been used as a book cover by Harper Collins Publishers LLC , USA and also has been featured in art catalogs that was distributed to hundreds of thousands of homes in the USA.