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Artists A-Z

Twins Seven Seven (1944 - 2011)

Olaniyi Osuntoki, called Prince Twins Seven Seven was born in 1944 in Ogide, Kabba Provinz, Nigeria.

Prince Twins Seven Seven is declared by critics to be one of Africa’s most prolific and well-known living artists whose artistic career started in Oshogbo, a Yoruba town in southwestern Nigeria.

In the 1960s in workshops conducted by Ulli and Georgina Beier, his inexhaustible creativity made Twins Seven Seven quickly become the dominant personality of the later so-called "Oshogbo School".

Prince Twins Seven Seven changed his birth name Olaniyi Osuntoki, to signal his status as the sole surviving child of his parents seven sets of twins. "Prince" was more than a flourish. His grandfather was king of Ibadan in the 1890s and, until the artist became seriously ill he was about to be installed as chief of his clan, the Osuntoki.

He was a painter, sculptor and musician. His work is influenced by traditional Yoruba mythology and culture and creates a fantastic universe of humans, animals, plants and Yoruba gods. His brightly coloured intricately patterned paintings evoked the world of Yoruba folklore and religion.

Prince Twins Seven Seven has participated in major group exhibitions, including "Magiciens de la Terre" (1989) at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. In 2005 Prince Twins Seven-Seven was named one of Unesco’s Arists for Peace.

Prince Twins Seven Seven died in 2011 in Ibadan, Nigeria.