Ben Enwonwu

Private Collection, UK, acquired directly from the artist, Lagos, c. 1964

Ben Enwonwu was a pioneer of African modernism. Born in Onitsha in southern Nigeria, he studied fine arts at the Government College in 1934, before receiving a scholarship to study in the UK in 1944, where he attended Goldsmiths College and the Slade School of Fine Arts. During this time, he engaged with the international art world, studying modern European art movements such as Symbolism and Fauvism. In 1946, he exhibited alongside prominent European modernists at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, where he briefly shared a studio with the South African artist Gerard Sekoto.

On his return to Nigeria in 1948, Enwonwu became Artist Adviser to the Federal Government. Among his many accolades, Enwonwu was awarded an MBE in 1955 by Queen Elizabeth II, and the following year he became the first African artist to receive a royal commission when Her Majesty sat for a large bronze sculpture, now at the entrance to the Parliament Buildings in Lagos. By 1964, when the present lot was painted, Enwonwu was internationally recognised as Nigeria's premier artist.

The present lot exemplifies Enwonwu's approach to image-making, combining facets of abstract and figurative styles in his pioneering compositions, which have become an indelible part of visual culture across the continent. The composition is anchored on a female figure depicted in her vibrant yellow dress and matching head wrap. Behind her are a group of silhouetted figures to the background, all of who appear to be engaged in an act of dance. This work typifies the genre scenes for which Enwonwu received acclaim, most notably his 'Africa Dances' series, which he embarked on during his time in London in reaction to Geoffrey Gorer's 1935 book of the same name.

Here Enwonwu conveys his dedication to Negritude as an intellectual and artistic movement, but personalises his gesture in the depiction of a scene which is grounded in a west African vernacular. Not only does Enwonwu highlight the textiles which are widely recognisable in urban hubs like Lagos or Abuja, but in depicting a female figure in the act of dance, the artist invokes the notion of dance as a cultural form which has long been associated with community and resistance.

Central to Enwonwu's practice is this seamless amalgamation of representational scenes with an assemblage of traditionalist motifs which carry allegorical and symbolic significance. What in the first instance appears as a group portrait is, upon further examination, a work which invokes the spiritual tenets of precolonial Nigerian culture, and in the process underlines the importance of retaining traditional culture in the face of postcolonial modernisation.