Ben Enwonwu

Private Collection UK, acquired directly from the artist

Lagos, Residence of the British High Commissioner, Salon Exhibition of paintings and sculptures, October 1987, probably no. 23 titled Man and Masks – A Mirage (oil painting in satire)

Man and Masks - A Mirage is a noble depiction of Chief Shafi Lawal Edu (1911–2002), a renowned Lagos businessman and conservationist, of royal ancestry. 

"Chief S. L. Edu lived an accomplished, celebrated, contented and fulfilled life as a philanthropist, astral business icon, seasoned politician, benevolent educationist, foremost conservationist and environmentalist, devout Muslim and patriotic citizen whose prodigious accomplishments will continue to endure for generations to come. He was certainly a giant among giants in business and cornerstone builder in modern entrepreneurship in Nigeria." (Siyan Oyeweso, 'S. L. Edu: A life to remember', The Guardian (NG), 08 January 2016)

The present lot was commissioned by Chief Edu circa 1982 but then Enwonwu reworked the composition to include the figures and masks surrounding him. (A commissioned portrait of Chief Rotimi Williams (1920-2005) titled 'A Man and His Gods' received a similar treatment.) Permeated with rich tones of yellow, orange and red, a particularly unique palette for Ben Enwonwu, the present lot displays Enwonwu’s maturity as a colourist, as well as his mastery of form and composition Enwonwu takes this masterwork beyond the realm of portraiture with the introduction of three mask motifs to the left of the composition. 

Central to Enwonwu's practice is this seamless amalgamation of representational scenes with an assemblage of traditional emblems 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.

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 1982, when the present lot was painted, Enwonwu was internationally recognised as Nigeria's premier artist. A well-connected and ambitious artist, Enwonwu produced numerous portraits depicting various members of Nigeria's intelligentsia, including members of traditional royal courts. The present lot is an exceptional example of such work.