The Gathering 2

About the artist

A pioneering figure of the Osogbo art movement, Rufus Ogundele developed a visual language shaped by Yoruba culture, theatre and the experimental workshops of 1960s Osogbo. Before becoming established as a painter and printmaker, he performed with Duro Ladipo's theatre company, bringing him into close contact with Yoruba performance, spirituality and storytelling. Ogundele translated these traditions through bold, graphic forms and printmaking, often allowing Christian and Yoruba imagery to coexist within the same visual world. His work forms part of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art's collection, where it has also been presented in dialogue with Bruce Onobrakpeya and other major Nigerian printmakers. Today, Ogundele is increasingly understood within the broader international reassessment of the artists who shaped Nigeria's post-independence modernism.