Born in 1928 to a farming family, in the Ancient Benin City which has deep roots in Nigerian art history and practice, Felix Idubor was a Nigerian sculptor who is considered a pioneer of Nigerian contemporary art.
Felix started sculpting when he was quite young much to the disapproval of his father who felt that a sculpting career was not a wise choice, financially. He started primary school education in Benin but took a break to focus on his true calling, sculpting. This in no way hindered his academic abilities as he went on to teach at the Edo College in Benin with little formal training at the age of seventeen, he also taught at a college in Yaba, Lagos.
Later on in his career, he gained critical recognition when he participated in an exhibition opened by the then Nigerian governor-general, James Robertson, during Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Nigeria in the late 1950s. He had presented a wood carving to the queen as a gift and, with the exposure he got at the exhibition, he got a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art, London.
Felix began sculpting birds in wood from Iroko trees which were commonly found in Benin, he continued to use wood from the Iroko tree in numerous projects. His sculpting career kicked off when he moved from Benin to Lagos, which was the then capital of Nigeria, after World War II. Lagos was only just emerging as the economic centre of the country, drawing numerous traders and tourists, Felix took advantage of the economic situation and started making crafts to sell to that market, while he honed his distinct artistic style. At the time, African tourism craft was not very popular, however, the effort put into creating these crafts made them popular with tourists and encouraged African art collection. Idubor held an exhibition of his wood sculptures at the Nigerian Exhibition centre in 1953 which exposed him to a wider audience, especially American art collectors.
Felix went on to sculpt doors, he was quite successful in this endeavour. After his studies in London, he received commissions from well-known individuals and organizations like the Oba of Lagos, Cooperative Bank building at Ibadan, and the House of Parliament in Lagos. He was selected for the project at the bank by the architect who designed the building the design on the door was of three crops carved in wood which depicted the three main regions in Nigeria; the Northern region was represented by groundnut, the Western region with cocoa and the Eastern region with palm fruit. This work was so well appreciated that it opened him up to more high profile commissions. Apart from wood, Felix successfully experimented with other materials like bronze and concrete.
Some of his works were on display in prominent places like the Nigerian House in London which held his wood sculpture of a Yoruba girl; the National House in Lagos and Ring Road in Benin city where his popular sculpture of a woman with a crown and coral beads stands.
Along with a group of young artists, Felix raised awareness of the artistic consciousness of African tradition in the 1950s and 1960s, in the newly emerging African art scene. He opened the first contemporary art gallery in Nigeria on Kakawa Street, Lagos in 1966.
