As Lineage of Masters II prepares to return to the Yusuf Grillo Museum in Lagos, the forthcoming exhibition is already beginning to reveal a story larger than a commemoration. Five key talking points from the media briefing capture the thinking behind this second edition and why the exhibition is becoming an important conversation about Nigerian art, memory and artistic inheritance.

Words Ireho Aito | Don’t Keep Your Art in the Finger! Photographs credit Benjamin Oladapo and Hakeem Mujeeb Olamilekan

The title is a reflection of Yusuf Grillo’s enduring influence.
Lineage of Masters is not simply a title chosen to honour a celebrated artist. It speaks directly to the life and work of Prof. Yusuf Adebayo Cameron Grillo and the generations of artists who encountered him as a teacher, mentor, colleague and master. Grillo’s legacy was never restricted to his paintings. He helped shape artists, institutions and ideas, making the concept of lineage particularly relevant to an exhibition that seeks to explore what remains after a master has passed on. The second edition, themed Continuity and Contemporary Expression, extends that conversation by asking how the values, discipline and artistic ideas associated with Grillo continue to resonate in contemporary practice.

The masters are meeting again.
One of the significant features of this edition is the presence of artists from Grillo’s own generation and artistic circle. The participation of figures such as T.A. Fasuyi, Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya and Jerome Elaiho gives the exhibition a special historical weight. These are not artists being brought into the story from a distance; they belong to the generation that helped shape the foundations of modern Nigerian art alongside Grillo. Their presence creates a rare opportunity to see the pioneers of Nigerian modernism within the same conversation as succeeding generations. It is a meeting of artistic histories, where the past does not simply sit behind glass but continues to speak through the practitioners who lived through it.

The lineage is growing.
Perhaps one of the clearest indications of the interest surrounding Lineage of Masters is the growth from the first edition to the second. The inaugural exhibition brought together 13 artists, primarily Grillo’s mentees and protégés. This time, the number has expanded considerably, with almost 20 artists and practitioners from different generations expected to participate. More artists wanted to be part of the project, demonstrating that the conversation around Grillo’s legacy is far from exhausted. Instead, it is becoming broader, attracting artists who recognise the importance of documenting and participating in the history of Nigerian art.

The exhibition is becoming a generational conversation.
Lineage of Masters II brings together artists from different chapters of Nigerian art history, creating an unusual meeting point between the modernists, the succeeding generation and contemporary practitioners. Artists such as Dele Jegede, Kolade Oshinowo, Abiodun Olaku, Duke Asidere, Kunle Adeyemi and Kehinde Sanwo sit within a much wider field of practitioners whose careers have helped shape the Nigerian art landscape. The presence of artists in the diaspora such as Lara Ige  – Jacks, Hassan Aliyu,  further expands the conversation. What emerges is not a single portrait of Grillo, but a wider picture of how ideas travel from teacher to student, from one generation to another, changing shape along the way.

The second edition points towards a continuing legacy.
Perhaps the most important question raised by the media briefing is what happens after this exhibition closes. The growing number of participating artists suggests that Lineage of Masters could become more than a once-a-year commemorative project. There is an appetite for subsequent editions, deeper conversations and a broader examination of the people who built the foundations of Nigerian art. In that sense, the exhibition is also about preservation: preserving memories, relationships, artistic philosophies and the stories behind the works. At the Yusuf Grillo Museum, the past is being given room to meet the present, while the future is quietly being invited into the conversation.

Lineage of Masters II opens on October 24 and runs until December 16, 2026, at the Yusuf Grillo Museum, Ikeja, Lagos. And if the journey from 13 artists in the first edition to almost 20 in the second is anything to go by, the lineage is not only being remembered; it is still expanding.

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