Footnotes

Provenance
Galerie Leandro, Geneva;
Acquired by Mr Solomon G. Odia;
By direct descent to the current owner;
A private collection.

Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu is a pioneering figure in the history of modern Nigerian art. This striking oil on board painting from 1963 exemplifies her skilful handling of her artistic subjects. Intimate yet monumental, the work presents two male figures seated on logs engaged in a musical interlude. Their bodies are turned away from one another yet are connected through proximity and gesture. The bare-chested figure stares outward into the distance in an attitude of contemplation, the other, dressed in a pale shirt, presents a confident upward gaze. Painted just three years after Nigeria gained independence in 1960, might the physical back-to-back positioning of the men symbolise contrasting attitudes towards tradition and modernity? As the sun sets on the quiet dignity of these figures, Ugbodaga-Ngu captures a moment of reflection that mirrors a nation grappling with independence, suspended between the weight of its colonial past and the uncertain promises of self-determined futures.

Ugbodaga-Ngu belonged to the first generation of formally trained Nigerian modernists, a group whose practices bridged colonial pedagogy and the experimental spirit of post-independence cultural renewal (C. Okeke-Agulu, 2015). Born in Kano in 1921, she studied at Goldsmiths College, University of London, before returning to Nigeria in the early 1950s, to take up a teaching position at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST) in Zaria. At NCAST Ugbodaga-Ngu became one of the earliest female instructors of fine art and taught several artists who would go on to form the celebrated Zaria Art Society, later dubbed the "Zaria Rebels" (N. Akande, 2019; Nigeria Magazine). Their ideology, based on the concept of "natural synthesis" which drew on formal training and indigenous aesthetics, was deeply influenced by her pedagogy. The art practice of Ugbodaga-Ngu, and that of her students, was deeply connected to a nation determined to articulate its post-colonial cultural identity.

Ugbodaga-Ngu's practice demonstrates a consistent interest in the expressive potential of the human figure. She chose to foreground everyday Nigerian people in her artwork, reflecting her social and cultural reality. Paintings such as Market Women (1961), Beggars (1963), and Dancers (1968) demonstrate the skilful handling of her subjects who are dignified, not through idealisation, but through the authenticity of their gestures and presence. Working in this way, Ugbodaga-Ngu challenged the colonial hierarchies of representation that exoticised African people through the "ethnographic gaze". Her art was rooted in shared history and social realities, elevating ordinary people as worthy central subjects for modern art.

In The labourer's song Ugbodaga-Ngu combines remarkable figurative naturalism with expressive brushwork and a balanced composition. The postures of the men suggest resilience, introspection, and quiet hopefulness. They are shown at rest against a broad, simplified background of golden earth and muted sky. Rendered in earthy tones of ochre, sienna, and blue, the vigorous painterly treatment imbues the scene with immediacy, as though we are witnessing a fleeting yet timeless moment of pause. The golden light suffuses the scene with warmth, casting the men in a monumental manner despite their humble setting. The anatomical modelling is typical of Ugbodaga-Ngu's stylised representation, where human form is not strictly realistic but formed by broad shape, stroke and blocky colour planes that emphasise gesture and mood over fine detail. Even so, she always showed a sensitivity to her local subjects and sensibilities. The ambiguity of the seated figures mirrors the uncertainties of early post-independence Nigeria, in an era infused with optimism yet troubled by questions of stability, identity, and direction.

In art historical terms, The labourer's song is a significant example of African modernism in the early 1960s, bridging formal academic techniques with an emergent independent voice rooted in Nigerian lived experience. Ugbodaga-Ngu achieved notable recognition in her lifetime, for example, in 1958 she became the first Nigerian female artist to hold a solo exhibition in the UK at the Commonwealth Institute Art Gallery, London. In 1963 she presented a solo exhibition in Boston, and later contributed to landmark group exhibitions including Independence Exhibition (1960, Lagos) and Contemporary Nigerian Art (1968, London). At the seminal FESTAC '77 (1977, Lagos), Ugbodaga-Ngu was one of only seven women among sixty-three participating artists. Today, Ugbodaga-Ngu is recognised as a central figure in Nigerian postcolonial modernism. Her work embodies the tensions and aspirations of a nation in transition and continues to resonate as part of a broader story of African modern art. This legacy will be celebrated in the forthcoming Nigerian Modernism exhibition opening at Tate Modern in October 2025, the first major UK show to comprehensively trace the development of modern art in Nigeria. It will mark a pivotal moment for modern and contemporary African art history, situating Ugbodaga-Ngu and her contemporaries at the heart of global narratives of twentieth-century modernism.

The inscription verso "S G ODIA/ B I.T./ Geneve" refers to Mr Solomon Odia who worked at the Bureau International du Travail in Geneva.

We are grateful to Dr Stacey Kennedy from the University of Oxford for her assistance in the completion of this footnote.