Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994) Festac '77
Provenance : [Propriété non datée]
- A private collection, Nigeria
- This work's reference to the Second World Festival of Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC, 1977), given its inscription on the front of the painting, implies that it was a creative response executed during this monumental cultural initiative
- Ben Enwonwu served as the director and special consultant to the International Secretariat of the FESTAC and also as a participating artist
- The initiative was held in Lagos and was preceded by the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal in 1966
- Celebrating global African culture, the initiative focused on African art and artists and their role in reflecting and promoting a sense of post-colonial African aspirations
- FESTAC allowed a space in which questions on how African modernity should and could be expressed post-colonisation, hallmarking the beginning of how Africa and the Diaspora are presented in contemporary art today
- It provided a forum for interrogating the influence of Negritude ideology on postcolonial African culture that, for many artists, resulted in politically engaged art with a stronger focus on indigenous aesthetics
- Ogbechie, p. 187) Contextually, FESTAC was hosted during the decade that Nigeria was experiencing an economic boom due to oil reserve revenues only contributing to the country's patriotism and prosperity
- The tax revenue strengthened, and the gross domestic product rose from 9% in 1969 to 44% by 1979
- Commencing early in the year, between January and February, the Festival held around 16,000 participants representing 56 African countries and attracted half a million visitors, making it the largest pan-African gathering to its date. 'The forthcoming Festival is a noble importance because all black peoples are coming together for the second time under the banner of culture
- In this age when we are being referred [sic] to as 'the Third World', it is essential to have a thing like FESTAC to bring all Blacks together
- This would also mark the beginning of a cultural evolution.' (Ben Enwonwu, 'Professor Ben Enwonwu (Doyen of African Sculpture) speaks his mind', Indigo-FESTAC Souvenir, (Lagos: Pioneer Publishing Co
- Ltd), p.35.) Following FESTAC, Enwonwu developed his art while maintaining initial compositions as in the Tutu series, broader and more surreal applications of colour
- A new visual language was needed for a country composed of such a wide range of ethnicities and art traditions
- Ethereal compositions of the female form fuse these various influences: '(Enwonwu's) appropriation of Yoruba concepts of supernatural force and the classical human form as a vessel for expressing modern technology aspired to an inclusive national aesthetic.' For Enwonwu, communicating the Negritude ideology lay in the form of the black African woman
- The sinuous abstraction of a silhouette of the regal female represented his ideal of African culture; beautiful, powerful and full of creative potential
- Her three-quarter profile and regal posture can be seen as synonymous with Enwonwu's most famous portrait, the Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi (Tutu) from motivation to elements of the compositional execution
- While geometrically abstracted, the depiction of robes that the figure is adorned with communicates this work as highly significant within Enwonwu's oeuvre
- Indeed, in his interview for FESTAC Souvenir, Enwonwu was recorded saying 'The richer the costume, the more beautiful the scenery.(p. 33.)
- In this extraction, Enwonwu displays his commitment to displaying the significance of Nigerian culture through aspects like costume and fusing this cultural awareness with modern practices
- The fusion of these ideologies amalgamate in the present lot, a painting that Enwonwu executed and held as a prime example of the Negritude ideology given its inclusion in the Festival,
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