Abayomi Barber was a painter and sculptor and the founder of the 'Abayomi Barber School', an influential informal studio tradition in Lagos. Born in Ile-Ife in 1928, he worked as a graphic artist and illustrator in Lagos in the early 1950s, briefly studied sculpture at Yaba under Paul Mount, and served as a project assistant on the Yoruba Historical Research Scheme. He then studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London (1960-62) and gained practical casting experience in London foundries and studios, assisting the sculptors Edward Delaney and Oscar Nemon (including on Nemon's Churchill statues), and worked at the British Museum. From 1971 he was an arts fellow at the University of Lagos, where in 1973 he began training young artists in his studio; this became the Abayomi Barber School, known for technical skill and a blend of meticulous naturalism and dreamlike, surreal imagery, often featuring Yoruba mythology and landscapes. He openly opposed the then-popular 'primitivist' and expressionist trends, arguing for craftsmanship and sincerity. He painted state portraits (Haile Selassie, Shehu Shagari) and sculpted busts of Murtala Mohammed and the Ooni Adesoji Aderemi. His work is in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, and he held a retrospective in 1989. His first student was Muri Adejimi.
School or movement: Abayomi Barber School (Lagos naturalism / surrealism).
Influenced by Paul Mount, Oscar Nemon, Edward Delaney, Yoruba history and mythology.
Influenced Muri Adejimi (first student), artists of the Abayomi Barber School.
