Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation | Nigerian Traditional Art | The Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation

THE OMO-OBA OLADELE ODIMAYO

ART FOUNDATION

The Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation was established with the objective of cultivating appreciation and preservation of one of the largest and most important private collections of Nigerian traditional art.

That traditional African art has intrinsic aesthetic, cultural and historical value is no longer a secret to the world. It is the endeavour of The Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation to arouse broad interest and scholarly appraisal of the artistic heritage of a vibrant country of West Africa. Its affluent history and diversity of cultures are attributes that find copious and evocative expression in its legacy of traditional art.

Founded in 2007 the trustees of the foundation comprise family members and notable persons with a passion for art patronage. Amongst its noted trustees is Omo-Oba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon, a prominent art collector and founder of the Omo-Oba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation, with which The Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation has organised collaborative exhibitions.

In the Yoruba language of Western Nigeria the title of ‘Omo-Oba’ translates as ‘Prince’. Ayomane Oladele Odimayo was the first child and son of the late Oba John Feyisara Odimayo, Jagboju VIII, Olofun of Ode-Irele. With the title ‘Oba’ his father was the traditional King-Ruler of the Ode-Irele kingdom situated in Ondo State in the Ikale region of Nigeria with a lineage spanning four hundred years. Hailing from a royal family of traditional rulers the culture of his people impressed itself on him from the earliest of years and from which germinated his passion for Nigerian traditional art.

THE

FOUNDER

As is typical of many reputed art collectors there also underlies a financial context which facilitates the inception of a major collection not unlike those of the Tate Family, Couthauld Family, Guggenheim Family and Getty Family. As such the birth of the Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo Art Foundation Collection can be traced to the founder’s venture into private business in the early 1970’s with the establishment of the Oceanic Group of Companies, whose activities ranged from marine, construction and civil engineering and through its subsidiaries in sectors, such as aviation, real estate, healthcare and agro-allied manufacturing. As a founder director of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, a leading pan-African bank, he was appointed Chairman of Ecobank Nigeria Plc. from March 2002 until September 2006. After retirement from private business he dedicated his time in expanding his art collection and pursuing the objectives of the art foundation he established.

As an astute entrepreneur Omo-Oba Oladele Odimayo apportioned a considerable part of his wealth to art collection. It was in 1978 when he began collecting European art, particularly Old Master paintings, and antique furniture for his homes in England, which included an 18-acre estate with horse stables in Leatherhead, Surrey, and a Mount Street, Mayfair, London home adjacent the famed Scott’s restaurant. His collecting also forayed into vintage car collection and comprised some of the finest marques from Rolls Royce, Bentley, Daimler and Aston Martin. By the 1980’s the intensity of his European art and antique furniture collecting escalated after establishing a strong relationship with numerous renowned London antique dealers and auctions houses, including Sotheby’s and Christies. The most valuable of his European art and furniture collection adorned the expansive rooms of his countryside mansion, ‘The Salutation’, The Grade I listed Edwardian mansion built by the renowned English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, in the sleepy hamlet of Sandwich, Kent.