Tutu's return: missing Nigerian masterpiece found in London flat

Ben Enwonwu’s 1974 portrait of a princess, a national icon in Nigeria, was lost for decades



The find was described as ‘the most significant discovery in contemporary African art in over 50 years’.

A missing painting of a 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. 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.

Ben Enwonwu’s Tutu (1974).
Ben Enwonwu’s Tutu (1974). Photograph: Ben Enwonwu/Bonhams Press Office
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 lightbulb moment; I thought: ‘Oh my god, this is extraordinary.’”

The family have 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.”

The painting will be sold at Bonhams in London on 28 February 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.

nuoladee:
Yorubas are too beautiful. God took his time with us no doubt.

Igbos are naturally beautiful (no wonder they have so many beauty queens including a miss world )

Yoruba beauty needed an igbo man who have good eyes to spot one in a million (he painted her because he was surprised to find a beauty in those region wey tear tear face is seen as model beauty )

Yoruba needs igbo to show and even paint out what is beauty to them, no wonder they no wan take ear hear Biafra

jara:


https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/feb/06/tutus-return-missing-nigerian-masterpiece-found-in-london-flat-ben-enwonwu

nuoladee:
Yorubas are too beautiful. God took his time with us no doubt.

oneda:
Yes so

Igbos are naturally beautiful (no wonder they have so many beauty queens including a miss world )

Yoruba beauty needed an igbo man who have good eyes to spot one in a million (he painted her because he was surprised to find a beauty in those region wey tear tear face is seen as model beauty )

Yoruba needs igbo to show and even paint out what is beauty to them, no wonder they no wan take ear hear Biafra

Disclaimer : all you read above is not my handwriting o

nonut:

Are there two sets of yoruba?
This is the one we know.

oneda:
Yes so

Igbos are naturally beautiful (no wonder they have so many beauty queens including a miss world )

Yoruba beauty needed an igbo man who have good eyes to spot one in a million (he painted her because he was surprised to find a beauty in those region wey tear tear face is seen as model beauty )

Yoruba needs igbo to show and even paint out what is beauty to them, no wonder they no wan take ear hear Biafra

Disclaimer : all you read above is not my handwriting o

nonut:

Are there two sets of yoruba?
This is the one we know.

Winners72:
Stop telling me anything about Nigeria.

Guestlander:

Painting of a beautiful Yoruba princess sold for over a million pounds. That should settle it for you.

bejeria101:


Who be igbo miss world? I hope its not brb!

oneda:


Educate yourself but first vomit that greenish concoction and red peppery dwarf causing brews you ingested so that your brain may at least be at factory mode (sorry if it is already permanently damaged BTW)

Although Mary Ngozi Bienoseh did not win the maiden edition of MBGN in 1986, she became the first Nigerian to be named African Continental Queen of Beauty, reaching the top ten at Miss World 1987.[22] Other MBGN delegates who have received this honour are Chinenye Ochuba[23] and Anita Uwagbale in 2002 and 2004 respectively.[24] 1988 winner, Law student Bianca Onoh was crowned Miss Intercontinental in 1989,[25] and Theatre graduate Sabina Umeh was the first Nigerian to win the Personality prize at Miss World 1990. Toyin Raji was the recipient in 1995, despite withdrawing from the pageant due to political protests.[26] Prior to this, Raji had been named Miss Congeniality at Miss Universe 1995.[27]

MBGN's biggest achievement was in 2001 when Computer Science and Mathematics student Agbani Darego became the first native Sub-Saharan to clinch the Miss World title,[28] and the first Nigerian in the top ten at Miss Universe.[29]

At least three MBGN winners have previously competed at Miss Nigeria: Omasan Buwa (1987),[30] Sylvia Nduka (2010),[31] and Isabella Ayuk (2004)[32] Miss Nigeria 2002, Sylvia Edem, was in the top five at MBGN 1998,[33] as was Miss Nigeria 1993 Pharmacy graduate Janet Fateye who had competed in MBGN 1992 as Kemi Fateye.[unreliable source?]

Many MBGN winners have pursued careers in entertainment, including Sabina Umeh,[34] Regina Askia,[35] Emma Komlosy (who reigned for the longest period in MBGN history from 1996–1998, and to date remains MBGN's only mixed-race winner),[36] Celia Bissong,[37] and Munachi Nwankwo.[38] Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu and Omasan Buwa have moved into politics,[39] and Nike Oshinowo has worked in pageantry.[40]
[url]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_Beautiful_Girl_in_Nigeria[/url]

nuoladee:

Don't bring that mbgn crap here cause we all know the lenght girls go to win those things. But even then none of the girls is half as pretty as omowunmi or nike oshinowo who is in her 50s for that matter. None cause even kiss the feet of powede Lawrence. Quit hating and bringing up stupid stats abeg.

oneda:



Igbo girls can really go lengths no wonder agbani Darego went lengths to win Miss World while those unknown names you mentioned were forming Virginia

nuoladee:
Yorubas are too beautiful. God took his time with us no doubt.