Uche Okeke (b. 1933-2016) was an illustrator, painter, sculptor, and teacher. He was an art and aesthetic theorist, seminal to Nigerian modernism.

Before being admitted to read Fine Art at Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (NCAST), now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Okeke had already exhibited taxidermy work during the Field Society meeting in Jos Museum, participated in the preparation and presentation of Nigerian Drawings and Paintings with Bernard Fagg as curator and had a solo exhibition of drawings and paintings, in Jos and Kaduna with Sir Ahmadu Bello in attendance.

As a young artist, Okeke was a founding member of the Zaria Art Society in 1958. In 1971, Uche Okeke joined the Department of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka as a professor. Together with colleagues and students he developed a unique style which became characteristic for the called “Nsukka School”. With Chike Aniakor and Obiora Udechukwu he established the formation of art and aesthetics of Nigerian modernism in the seventies.

Exhibitions include:

• Retrospective Exhibition of Drawings and Prints, German Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria (1979)
• Graphik Aus Nigeria, Germany (1978)
• Exhibition of Mosaics and Stained Glass Windows, Franz Mayer and Company, Munich, Germany (1963)