A missing painting
of a Nigerian princess that attained an almost mythical status after
going decades unseen has been discovered in a north London flat.
Ben Enwonwu's 1974
painting of the Ife princess, Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, is a
national icon in Nigeria, with poster reproductions hanging on walls in
homes all over the country.
The artist,
regarded as the founding father of Nigerian modernism, painted three
versions of Tutu and the image became a symbol of national
reconciliation. But all three were lost and became the subject of much
speculation.
The Nigerian
novelist, Ben Okri, said it amounted to the "the most significant
discovery in contemporary African art in over 50 years, according to
theguardian.com.
"It is the only
authentic Tutu, the equivalent of some rare archaeological find. It is a
cause for celebration, a potentially transforming moment in the world
of art."
The discovery was made by Giles Peppiatt, the director of modern African art at the auction house Bonhams.
He estimated he
gets sent a Tutu every eight weeks and it invariably turns out to be a
print. But late last year, a family in north London approached him
asking him to come and see a painting they said was by Enwonwu.
"Sometimes you go
somewhere on a wing and a prayer, you don't know what you are going to
see ... this was an enormous surprise. It is a picture, image-wise, that
has been known to me for a long time, so it was a real light bulb
moment; I thought: 'Oh my god, this is extraordinary.'"
The family has asked to remain anonymous, but Peppiatt described them as perfectly ordinary.
The painting was
something their father had acquired, he said, adding: "as is often the
way, there are things your parents buy and you haven't a clue why they
bought it or what the value of it is ... you just inherit it."
Missing painting of a Nigerian princess
The painting will
be sold at Bonhams in London on February 28, but such is the anticipated
interest "its appearance on the market is a momentous event", said
Peppiatt - that the sale will also be broadcast live to bidders in
Lagos.
It is expected to
sell for between £200,000 and £300,000. If it goes over the upper limit
it will set a new record for a modern Nigerian artist.
Okri, writing in
the forthcoming Bonhams magazine, said he hoped Tutu's rediscovery would
help bring about a wider re-evaluation of African art.
"Traditional
African sculpture played a seminal role in the birth of modernism in the
early years of the 20th century, but modern African artists are
entirely absent from the story of art," he said.
"This is an
oversight that urgently needs rectification if the art world does not
want to imply that contemporary Africa has made no contributions to the
world's artistic achievements."
Okri said Enwonwu
was already world-renowned as the greatest living African artist when,
in the summer of 1973, three years after the end of the Nigerian civil
war, he encountered the princess and was entranced, asking to paint her
portrait.
Enwonwu was a student at Goldsmiths, Ruskin College, Oxford, and the Slade in England in the 1940s.
He became more
widely known when he was commissioned to create a bronze sculpture of
the Queen during her visit to Nigeria in 1956, a work that now stands at
the entrance of the parliament buildings in Lagos.
However, Tutu is
regarded as his greatest masterpiece - the image was on display at his
funeral in 1994. The whereabouts of the other Tutu paintings remains a
mystery. (NAN)
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