Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994)
Provenance : [Prior auction history]
2007-05-23, Bonhams, "Exploration, Travel & Topographical Pictures", London, lot 83, GBP 720
2009-04-08, Bonhams, "Africa Now: African Contemporary Art", London, lot 12, GBP 66000
2014-05-21, Bonhams, "Africa Now", London, lot 1, GBP 9000
2015-05-20, Bonhams, "Africa Now - Modern Africa", London, lot 41, GBP 68500
2016-02-06, Claydon Auctioneers, "Paintings & Prints", Middle Claydon, BUX, UK, lot 105, GBP 5500
Provenance Purchased in Lagos, circa 1964. Thence by direct descent to the current owners. In the years leading up to the civil war (1967-1970), relations between different ethnic groups became increasingly fraught, intensifying distinct identities. Painted in 1963, The gathering of the chiefs, Asaba reveals the artist’s longing for harmony and national reconciliation. It depicts a group of Igbo elders in a wooded grove, gathered together to worship at the village shrine. Communal worship is integral to Igbo traditions, and the painting celebrates its cohesive power. Enwonwu revisited the theme twice more in Ututu: Morning Meeting and Ututu: Morning Meeting of the Elders in Old Asaba, 1970 (illustrated in Nzegwu p.167). The inhabitants of Asaba were aught at the heart of the conflict; separated from eastern Igbo communities by the River Niger, the opposing factions both demanded their loyalty. Riven by internal divisions, the artist presents Asaba as a microcosm of Nigeria. His paintings suggest that a return to traditional community life will pave the way towards national reconciliation. The village shrine was of particular importance to Enwonwu. His father had been a craftsman, often employed in carving figures for the shrine of Onitsha. He later described how the experience of watching his father awoke his own creative ambitions: “My art began when my father was carving in the shrine at Onitsha. It began as I watched him carve images such as okwachi (vessel of the soul), osisi (staff of office for members of the ancient Agbalanze society in Onitsha), ikenga (symbol of identity)...as well as images like iru mmuo (the sculptural face of incarnate spirits)...” (Nkiru Nzegwu, p.146) It is not surprising that the young artist would connect the shrine with creative potential. According to Igbo tradition, shrines assisted in altering the devotee’s state of consciousness. A meeting point for ancestral spirits and natural forces, these sites invested worshipers with supra-natural energy and opened their inner eye. Bibliography N. Nzegwu, ‘Representational Axis: A Cultural Realignment of Enwonwu’, Contemporary Textures: Multidimensionality in Nigerian Art, ed. N. Nzegwu (New York, 1999) pp.146-167. S.O. Ogbechie, Ben Enwonwu: The Making of an African Modernist, (New York, 2008) p.178.
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