The Spirited Canvas:
Toiles and Tapestries of Chief Zacheus O. Oloruntoba

March 23 to July 7, 2002

Bruce Museum of Arts and Science
Greenwich, Connecticut

Dorothy Dannemiller Rogers, Curator

The 27 works in The Spirited Canvas represent, in the words of their creator, "the power of healing, the sources of life, the enhancement of all positive life forces, and the protection against the negative."

Zacheus O. Oloruntoba is an 82-year-old Yoruba chieftain and heir to the throne of Ogidi, Nigeria. He is also a practicing tribal shaman, a recognized clairvoyant, a consultant in herbal medicine at Georgetown University, an avid polo player--and an artist whose work has been exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art, reproduced on more than 30 UNICEF greeting cards, and collected by Queen Elizabeth II, David Rockefeller, Mohammed Ali, and Ornette Coleman.

Working with traditional methods and materials, Chief Oloruntoba translates his clairvoyant dreams into what he calls "paintings for power and life and for the protection from sickness and jealousy." The exuberant images of elephants, lions, great birds, Yoruba women, tribal musicians, and village huts have curative powers far beyond the delight they give the viewer. Each contains a healing spirit who has arrived from beyond to grapple with a specific problem or concern--as represented by such titles as Two Protection Birds and Good Luck and Harmony.

The toiles featured in this show are actually paintings in vegetable dyes and ink on cloth. The tapestries, on heavier canvas, feature vibrant, intricate patterns of silken cord applied with wheat paste. In both cases, the dyes are made from native Nigerian plants, with both colors and herbs chosen for their curative properties.

The spirits depicted in Chief Oloruntoba's work range from gods of the Yoruba pantheon to other-worldly helpers and ghosts of long-dead ancestors who take a lively interest in human affairs. It's a population with whom the Chief has communed since childhood. Before he'd reached his teens, young Zacheus had become known throughout Africa for his powerful, lucid, and seemingly clairvoyant dreams. Many of those dreams were recorded and published by the University of California Press as King Marapaka's Dream. The book presents an evocative tale of a young man's apprenticeship in the healing arts and his eventual mastery of magical powers. Today, Chief Oloruntoba continues to work his magic in paintings that sweep the viewer into a phantasmagoric realm of color, vitality, and mystery.

Back to the backroom.

For more about Chief Oloruntoba, please read his biography.