Mrs Morayo Anthonio, the eldest child of the foremost Nigerian artist, the Late Prof Yusuf Grillo (1934-2021), in this interview with SAMUEL BOLAJI explains the essence and the vision of the Yusuf Grillo Museum
What legacy was Prof. Yusuf Grillo known for/left behind?
He was an artist in his own right and an art educator. His whole life was spent teaching and developing other artists. He spent his whole life working at the Yaba College of Technology’s Fine Art Department. That’s his legacy.
The building that houses the Fine Art Department is also named after him because of the recognition of his life’s works which he put into that place. He died in August 2021.
The works that he did while he was alive just started to make sense to us. As a family, we just started to realise that this man did a whole lot while he was with us. We didn’t pay too much attention to it. But after he was gone and we started to hear so much about his works from other people, we decided that since his whole life was about art, teaching art, and grooming young artists, it should not end with his death. He can continue to give back to the art community in pursuit of raising young artists in the future even after he’s gone through this legacy museum. It’s a museum, a research space, a gallery, one for young artists or upcoming artists and the current crops of artists.
What was the primary source of inspiration?
Primary inspiration? That’s a tough question an artist is inspired by so many things. It’s hard to say this one was his primary source of inspiration. Maybe he focused a lot on his culture and, being a Yoruba man, he drew a lot from the Yoruba culture, topography, and symbolism; and the Yoruba way of looking at things came through in his works. From his titles to his subject matter, things like our tradition were common among his works. He had one painting called ‘Abenu Gòngò’ (laughs) and it was just the face of a man. But that simplifies Abenu Gòngò and it’s only a Yoruba person (laughs) that can understand and relate to it. And, of course, he grew up in Lagos. He has another one called ‘The Awopa Procession’, which was the Awopa cult and how they do their things. So, he drew a lot from his culture and tradition.
Why was the colour blue special to Prof.?
Every colour is special. I guess it was just a personal preference. It wasn’t only blue but predominantly blue and blue tones like purple, and green. You would hardly see him use something like red or yellow, but I think it was just a personal preference for him. Those were the colours that he liked. People have favourite colours.
Tell us about the Yusuf Grillo Museum
Well, as I said before, it is something his children decided to do in his memory. It’s like he left this thing, and we thought: what do we do with it? How do we use this space to pay homage to the memory of the man who built this house? And this idea came up, and we saw that we could do it. We could convert it (his residence) to his own space. He had his collections and we thought why should we as a family be selfish to share them only among ourselves when we could share his artworks with the art world which he loved so much in Nigeria? So, we thought of putting together a warehouse that would house his works and they would be there on display for whoever is interested to come in and see that a man once lived.
This was what he was about. These were the things he collected. This was the space from which he worked. These were the books he read and papers he wrote, because he was also an educator. So, we have those in the archives. We have books that he collected being an art instructor, and art lecturer. So, we will be sharing his books with friends or whoever wants to research. We will be sharing from his life because he also was an icon in art in Nigeria and I know that even at the secondary level in Fine Art, they studied him as one of the pioneer artists in Nigeria, and I know a lot of students who studied Yusuf Grillo when sitting their O’level certificate exams because Yusuf Grillo was included in their curriculum.
I had a particular friend who had a brother who was an artist at heart, who wanted to do art but wasn’t doing well in all the other subjects. But it was just art and his father nearly killed him for not making good grades in other subjects. Now he’s one of the biggest artists today. But at that time, because the sister was my friend, it took his sister telling their father that “Morayo’s daddy is an artist, and he is not doing so badly.” It’s not that artists are layabout which a lot of people or a lot of parents at that time thought was not a serious subject like Chemistry or Biology, the issue is that a lot of people did not at that time see art as a viable career.
So, being one of the foremost ones at the time of Independence, he (Grillo) and his colleagues forged the way. And now art is becoming more recognised. He did a lot to encourage parents not to stiffen the talent in the young ones whom God had gifted with this talent. He stood for that, and he gave them all they needed to know to be artists, which is a way of giving back to society. So, the museum is just a continuation of that. The museum is a stage to develop art and to encourage art in the generation of today and tomorrow.
Who can access the museum and what will be the mode of access?
Well, like with other museums, anybody who’s interested can have access to it. We’re just starting; it’s just being launched. I’ll say that there’s a website for the Yusuf Grillo Museum through which the museum can be contacted for booking for now until we get all the resources we need in terms of manpower, material, and finances to run it daily. We’re open to field trips from secondary schools. Even when he was alive, he used to entertain students when they would come on excursions into his workshop. So, we’re looking at primary schools, secondary schools, and even tertiary institutions. It is also open to young artists who want to hold their exhibition and are looking for a modest thing that won’t cost too much to hold their exhibition. We have one or two halls we can rent. For those just coming in and looking around, that will take off but not right now. Right now, it has to be on order for maybe a month or two. When we settle down, then we would be able to fully open and you can just walk in anytime, from anywhere within working hours, and you will always find someone there. But that’s not so yet. If anybody wants to visit, we need to book for now, but not for very long.
How would the museum impact art and culture in Nigeria?
Impact on art and culture; I think it will be there for people to come in and see. Not that there are no other museums, but this one is private and those who are interested can see that a private entity or a private body can have that kind of thing because when you think about museums, you’re thinking about museums owned by the government such as the National Museum, the National Gallery of Art. So, I think this museum would maybe encourage other artists or even the families of other artists who have gone on to do something like that in honour of their father who also impacted the art and culture of their time. At least, they’ve seen what we have done and if they like it, we hope that more and more people will buy it and more and more memorial museums will spring up. Then it could also be a good tourist attraction because this man was not only known within Nigeria but was also known in the Diaspora, outside the nation. So, I can imagine artists who want to explore African art and want to come in, it can be seen as a tourist attraction which would teach people more about art and Nigerian art and increase appreciation in the minds of people.
If Prof were to be here today, what would be his words for Nigerian artists?
His words will always be the same, which he has always preached: Art is a calling. The artist has to be true to himself. Art is to be practised for the sake of art, and not for the sake of commerce. As an artist, I just want to express myself. I want to communicate with the world around me. Anybody who looks upon my artwork is picking the message the work is passing across and that’s what the artist is trying to pass on to those who come to buy art. Making money? That’s secondary to him. It’s first and foremost, art for art’s sake.
