₦airaland Forum

Ben Enwonwu's 'Tutu' painting found after decades

Updated 9th February 2018

Written by Jennifer Hauser, CNN


A famous Nigerian painting that has been missing for decades has finally been found in a London home and will be up for auction at the end of the month.

"Tutu" is part of a set of three paintings created by Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu around 1973, just a few years after Nigeria's bloody civil war ended.

The story goes that Enwonwu was walking in the Nigerian countryside when he met a beautiful young woman whom he just had to paint, according to Bonhams auction house in London. Her name is Adetutu Ademiluyi, abbreviated as Tutu, and she was a princess in her city of Ife in south-western Nigeria.

Enwonwu painted two other versions of the woman but all three were lost.

The paintings gained fame not only for their beauty but also for their disappearance. The discovery is partly thanks to the efforts of Giles Peppiatt, Director of African art at Bonhams, who for years made it his mission to find the paintings. People brought him prints many times but they all turned out to be fake, until one day in December 2017, he finally found the real thing.

After receiving a tip, Giles made a visit to a modest apartment in north London and discovered the painting had been hanging there for the last 30 years. Giles said, "I was absolutely staggered when I first saw the piece. The owners, who had inherited it, had no idea of its current value," according to Bonhams.

"On discovering the long-missing work," continued Peppiatt, "I felt a little like Howard Carter peering into Tutankhamen's tomb. When Carter was asked by Lord Carnarvon 'What can you see?', Carter replied 'Wonderful things... Wonderful things.' And so it was for me on that dark December night."

Bonhams plans to put the "Tutu" up for auction on February 28. It's still unknown where the other two paintings are.

naptu2:
Professor Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (His works grace quite a few public buildings in Lagos, including the statue of Sango in front of NEPA headquarters, Marina, the horses at Tafawa Balewa Square & the statue of the drummer in front of NECOM House/Net Building, Marina).

https://scontent.flos5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28468167_2034264553497508_1392757101673171048_n.jpg?oh=5bc7fb3fd2eb35c88eedaa3d6ca68803&oe=5B155F2F

https://scontent.flos5-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28377619_2034260806831216_1370459266782533862_n.jpg?oh=49c918c057b6b6ef2d0372e531c4e19a&oe=5B112E7D
"Sango" by Ben Enwonwu (@ NEPA, Marina).


https://scontent.flos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28377945_2034264566830840_3127972957829913831_n.jpg?oh=c0666f9f7134b35187bcf656ce6c15b7&oe=5B03C978


https://scontent.flos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28279590_2034264556830841_6567707034235134871_n.jpg?oh=470478ccd7c370a2b7c1bc14d6e93d17&oe=5B4748B0
"The Drummer" by Ben Enwonwu (@ NECOM House/Net Building, Marina).


https://scontent.flos1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/28378035_2034264583497505_3309540385988122607_n.jpg?oh=22684881040298c32edb3cb9f7a34895&oe=5B03FF64
Professor Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu with “Anyanwu”. The original was presented to the United Nations in 1966 and it adorns the lobby of the UN building in New York. A copy is at the National Museum, Lagos.


He attended Government Colleges, Ibadan and Umuahia between 1934-1937; Goldsmith College, London in 1944; Ruskin College, Oxford, England, 1944-1946; Ashmolean College and Slade School of Fine Arts, Oxford, 1946-1948, graduating with first class honours and did postgraduate courses in anthropology and ethnography at the University of California, USA and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA.

From 1939, he was an art teacher in various Schools, including Government College, Umuahia, Mission School in Calabar Province, 1940-1941 and at at Edo College, Benin City, 1941-1943. He was art adviser to the Nigerian government from 1948. He toured and lectured in the United States from 1950 and executed many commissions as a freelance artist.

In 1956 he was commissioned to sculpt a bronze portrait of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. The sittings began at Buckingham Palace and the resulting full length bronze statue was shown at the R.B.A Gallery (Royal Society of British Artists, to which he had been elected) and the Tate Gallery.

On the 5th of October 1966, the Federal Government, on behalf of the Nigerian people, made a special gift of Enwonwu’s sculptural masterpiece, “Anyanwu”, or The Awakening (1955) to the United Nations. The sculpture, prominently displayed at the lobby of the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, is the symbol of the emancipation of the emergent African Continent and her right to self expression.

He was editor, Nigeria Magazine, from 1966; fellow, University of Lagos, Lagos, 1966-1968; cultural advisor to the Nigeria government, 1968-1971; visiting artist, Institute of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC; appointed first professor of Fine Arts, University of Ife, Ile-Ife, 1971-1975 and art consultant to the International Secretariat, Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC), Lagos, 1977.

He executed portraits of Nigerians as private commissions, illustrated Amos Tutuola’s The Brave African Huntress and maintained a studio in London. He was also a Fellow, Royal Anthropological Institute, London and Member: Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Enwonwu's work is displayed in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos. He died in 1994

"I will not accept an inferior position in the art world. Nor have my art called African because I have not correctly and properly given expression to my reality. I have consistently fought against that kind of philosophy because it is bogus.

European artists like Picasso, Braque and Vlaminck were influenced by African art. Everybody sees that and is not opposed to it. But when they see African artists who are influenced by their European training and technique, they expect that African to stick to their traditional forms even if he bends down to copying them. I do not copy traditional art. I like what I see in the works of people like Giacometti but I do not copy them. I knew Giacometti personally in England, you know. I knew he was influenced by African sculptures. But I would not be influenced by Giacometti, because he was influenced by my ancestors”.

“Art is not static, like culture. Art changes its form with the times. It is setting the clock back to expect that the art form of Africa today must resemble that of yesterday otherwise the former will not reflect the African image. African art has always, even long before western influence, continued to evolve through change and adaptation to new circumstances. And in like manner, the African view of art has followed the trend of cultural change up to the modern times”. 1950, Ben Enwonwu.

planetx:
Not true its about 8 or 9 not 20 or 40, cause I have seen Obama motorcade severally in DC.

planetx:
Not true its about 8 or 9 not 20 or 40, cause I have seen Obama motorcade severally in DC.

planetx:
Not true its about 8 or 9 not 20 or 40, cause I have seen Obama motorcade severally in DC.

hoopejoy:
Fantastic list. Moonlighting...... Dempsey and Make peace nko ?

jidxin:
D only 1 I'm familiar with is renta ghost I so much enjoy it. But op why didnt u include HUCKLEHOUNDS OR HUCLE BERRY

dfrost:
Frank Spencer. It was a British sitcom I guess naptu2.

Good morning uncle .

Mcreloaded:
crow at dawn
crow at dawn

Featuring
Uncle Gaga
Bello
Zemaiye
Bitrus.
Means am old now lol

The theme song
When you hear the sound of the cock crow at dawn
Something like that.
Guess the op was too young to remember the greatest of them all

pamcode:
Why wasn't the Carry on series shown on TV in Nigeria

Orpe7:
Fawlty towers
Allo allo
Rent a ghost
Were da bomb

However carry on series were not shown cus of their raunchy scenes. Carry on campingn, carry on abroad, carry on doctors etc etc. Didnt know why we were allowed to watch them sef.

axeman10:
Fond memories OP...

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air also comes to mind...I think it's more of the early 90s though than 80s.

For some other comedy shows on NTA channel 7 (chain I don't old wells)...we had;

The Ariya Jesters (Ereke ni Shop and Alajeju)
Then Obalende and Ateyepe
There was also Baba Suwe in the borderline of 80's n 90s
Tanmo (ko wa so)...more of TV quiz show but still fun

There was also Mirror in the sun (some comedy skits there)..and Ccock Crow at Dawn...

Nice compilation OP..cheers.

emonis88:
remember these shows but u missed 1 that they called slap stick studios, was also a comedy sitcom in d 80s.

Ollymurs:
Op you forgot Only fools and Horses. David Jason ( Delboy) and also Black Adder Goes forth ( Rowan Atkinson) ... I missed those show.

dawaxkydada:
You missed one Mr Spencer

Krak:
Charge Chaplin was during the 20's, 30's and 40's.

Gbemishile1:
tthe comedy set in a german restaurant and hotel during world war 1.a german chef and two assistants
have forgotten the name

Soulsymbol99:
Hmmmm, different strokes, the short guy be like.. ... What u talking about Louis!

emmykey0128:
what about Mr Bean? I remembered watching it when growing up

ipobarecriminals:
very correct.They even sell the magazine. dauda d sexy guy thing with big lips.

Bedlecturer:
71. Another Life