Bamgboye was born in 1893 in Odo-Owa, Ekiti State, Nigeria.  Known for his complex compositions, he was the prime designer of Epa helmet masks, elaborate headgear worn during masquerades that celebrate important contributors to the public good.  On view is his brightly painted ''Warrior'' mask from 1920, honoring the military strategy that helped build the community.   An abstract face at the base of the structure, worn over the dancer's head, supports a rider on a caparisoned horse, with tiers of soldiers on either side massed one above the other. The whole thing is topped by an elaborate umbrella like structure.
Bamgboye also contributes a stunning smaller figure, an ''Esu Dance Staff.''  The carving is devoted to the cult of Esu, god of chance and irrational mischief, a highly important figure in the Yoruba world. It depicts a small figure wearing a huge, bridge like headdress that cantilevers out behind him, carved in a geometric design. From its tubular bottom piece hang strings of cowrie shells. The figure itself, standing on a pedestal, blows a hunting whistle, one of Esu's emblems.
Such were Bamgboye's skills that in the 1930's British officials gave him a teaching post at a Government school. But according to William Fagg (1914-1992), the renowned English Africanist who specialized in Nigeria, from that point on his work became self-conscious. Happily, both these objects date from before that period.