Rufus Ogundele was one of the first-generation Oshogbo artists. As a teenager he acted and played music in the theatre company of his uncle, Duro Ladipo. He began making art at Denis Williams's 1963 workshop in Oshogbo. Afterwards Georgina Beier took him and Jacob Afolabi into her home studio, where he learned linocut. From the start he painted on a large scale, often in household emulsion paint. His figures are outlined in heavy black against flat fields of white, blue, green and red, a look that critics compare with German Expressionists such as Nolde and Kirchner. His subjects come from Yoruba religion. He was raised a Christian but was devoted to Ogun, the god of iron, and his works show orisha, shrines, sacrifices and mythic scenes. In 1968 he moved to Ife to assist Solomon Wangboje at the Ori Olokun workshop. He later co-founded the Ogun Timehin studios and trained younger artists. In 1983 he was artist-in-residence at Iwalewa-Haus in Bayreuth, Germany. His 1960s paintings were shown at Tate Modern's Nigerian Modernism exhibition (2024-25), which has raised interest in his early work.
School or movement: Oshogbo School (Mbari Mbayo, first generation).
Influenced by Denis Williams, Georgina Beier, Ulli Beier, Duro Ladipo theatre, Yoruba religion (Ogun, Sango), German Expressionism (as noted by critics).
