Professor Ben Enwonwu MBE was a pioneer of African modernism, widely celebrated as a painter and sculptor, Enwonwu fused western conventions with indigenous aesthetics and traditions- breaking new ground in the international art world. A champion of Nigerian culture at a time when they, and other countries across Africa, were gaining independence from their former colonial masters. Oliver Enwonwu, his son and Executive Director of The Ben Enwonwu Foundation, speaks on some of his father’s most important works in Sotheby’s upcoming sale Modern and Contemporary African Art (24 March – 31 March | 2021). The sale features multiple works from Enwonwu’s Africa Dances series, a theme that spanned his 60 year career, as well as his portrayal of the female mating ceremony of Ondo State seen in Obitan Dancers. Also featured in this sale is Enwonwu’s exceptional brass sculpture of the Greek mythological figure Atlas.
Sotheby’s :Ben Enwonwu & Nigerian Art – From Father to Son
art times2022-04-05T22:16:22+02:00