African Art: The Years since 1920 by Marshall W. Mount, 1989
Tag: British Royal Collection
Felix Idubor: A sculptor from Benin
Y. A. Grillo and Juliet Highet
African Arts Vol. 2, No. 1 (Autumn, 1968), pp. 30-35
Published By: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
Felix Idubor Exhibition
Sculpture Exhibition
Kensington Post – Friday 19 July 1957
SCULPTURE EXHIBITION
An exhibition of sculpture by Felix Idubor is being held in the Pavilion of the Imperial Institute until July 28.
The exhibition was formally opened on Monday by M.T. Mbu. Commissioner in London For the Federation of Nigeria. The artist was present.
Idubor held his first one-man exhibition at the Exhibition Centre, Lagos, under the auspices of the British Council in 1953.
In 1954 he was awarded a silver medal and two certificates of merit at the Nigerian Festival of the Arts
He was commissioned by the Federal Government to carve a casket for presentation to the Queen as a souvenir of Her Majesty’s visit to Nigeria. By gracious permission of Her Majesty this casket is on view at the Imperial Institute exhibition.
Approximately forty of Idubor’s carvings are on show.
They are in traditional style and the materials he uses are mainly the woods from his native country black ebony. opepe, obeche. iroke and black afara.
Queen’s Loan
Queen’s Album
The Scotsman – Thursday 08 November 1956
Queen’s Album
Many of the events in which the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh took part during the Royal tour of Nigeria earlier this year will be recalled to Her Majesty’s memory by an album of photographs which is to be presented to her tomorrow. The presentation is being made by the Commissioner for Nigeria, Mr Matthew Mbu, on behalf of the Federal Government, in commemoration of the visit.
To-day, Mr Mbu kindly allowed journalists to see the album and the beautifully carved ebony casket in which it will be presented. Both have been made by Nigerians using Nigerian materials. The album. bound in royal blue leather, has the Nigerian arms embossed in gold on the front and contains 25 pictures covering the highlights of the tour.
The photographs, taken by photographers of the Research and Information Ministry of Nigeria, are some of the finest examples of colour photography ever seen. A well-known Nigerian craftsman, Felix Idubor, executed the carvings on the casket of figures and animals representing different parts of the country. The casket’s key is made from gold mined in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s gift to the Queen
Halifax Evening Courier – Thursday 06 September 1956
[See the casket made by Felix Idubor held an album of photographs. Perhaps the box isn’t listed in the Royal Collection because it is filed under the photos.]
Chief Kola Balogun, Nigeria’s Federal Minister of Information and Research, with the casket of king ebony containing an album of photographs of the Royal visit, which is to be presented to the Queen in commemoration of her tour of West Africa earlier this year. The casket, made by local craftsman Mr. Felix Idubor, has a design symbolic of the three regions of Nigeria. It is to be brought as soon as possible from Lagos to London and will be presented to the Queen on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria.