Flora Wirgman
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Sold for £14,000 inc. premium
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Head of Department
Group Head, Fine Art, U.K
'A versatile artist is not just one who works in many stress areas of art, but one who handles each area of his interest with maximum professional competence, making him a master in each area, to the extent that it will be very difficult to really know the primary area of his speciality. He is not a "Jack of all trades", as the cliché goes, but he is a master of all trades; that is, in each, he is a master. Akinola Lasekan was indeed a versatile artist... He was a painter, illustrator, textile designer, graphic designer, cartoonist, an art teacher, a proprietor and a curator:
As a painter, Lasekan distinguished himself as early as 1938 when the Weekly Record newspaper recognised him "as one of the portrait painters following the footsteps of Aina Onabolu, the pioneer."
The evidence is there with his superb academy colour language that is greatly and gracefully acquired by his portrait works, group compositions, landscapes and one-figure compositions. His paintings were well exhibited all over Nigeria, Ghana and the United Kingdom between 1940 and the early 1970's'.
Bibliography
Prof. Ola Oloidi, 'Lasekan: The Unrivaled Pioneer', Position International Art Review, vol.5, no. 4.