MASTERPIECES FROM THE BEN URI COLLECTION
BEN ENWONWU (1917-1994) THE DANCER (AGBOGHO MMUO - MAIDEN SPIRIT MASK
Signed (lower left) Ben Enwonwu 1962
BEN ENWONWU
Ben Enwonwu’s The Dancer (Agbogho Mmuo – Maiden Spirit Mask) (c 1950s–60s) is a dynamic synthesis of traditional Igbo aesthetics and modernist formalism, emblematic of the artist’s pioneering role role in the development of modern African art. Drawing directly from the Agbogho Mmuo masquerade tradition of
southeastern Nigeria where elaborately adorned masks represent the idealized beauty and virtues of young women Enwonwu reinterprets this cultural motif through the lens of expressive movement and sculptural abstraction. In The Dancer, Enwonwu captures not only the physical form of the masquerader but the kinetic energy and spiritual presence of the performance itself The figure, elongated and rhythmically poised, appears mid-motion, draped in flowing costume and crowned with a stylized mask The mask’s delicate features slender nose, high forehead, and intricate coiffure echo canonical Igbo forms while also invoking a broader discourse on identity, femininity, and transformation Executed with a fluid command of line and form, the work bridges European modernist influences (notably Rodin and Degas, whom Enwonwu studied) with indigenous Nigerian art, affirming the viability of African subjects within a global artistic idiom. The Dancer thus becomes both a celebration of cultural heritage and a statement of postcolonial modernity, asserting African visual languages within the canon of international art
Painter and sculptor Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE, better known as Ben Enwonwu, was born in Onitsha, Nigeria on 14 July 1917; his father was a traditional Igbo sculptor of masks and religious imagery, and his mother was a successful textile merchant Through his father, he was exposed to art from a
young age Enwonwu studied art under Kenneth C Murray at Government College, Ibadan and Government College, Umuahia (1939-44), and while still a student, his work was included in a group exhibition at Zwemmer Gallery, London in 1937 He held his first solo exhibition in Lagos in 1944 prior to relocating to England on a graduate scholarship to study at Goldsmiths, London (1944); Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford (1944-46); and the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1946-47), followed by postgraduate studies in anthropology in 1948 He became a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland the same year Enwonwu also exhibited in group exhibitions with the London Group (1945-46) and a show of 'modern art' in Paris in 1946 In 1947 he held the first in a series of five solo exhibitions at William Ohly's Berkeley Galleries, London (the last in 1955), followed, in 1950, by a further series in New York, Boston, Howard University in Washington DC, and Gallery Apollinaire in Milan, consolidating his reputation as a pioneering African modernist. His son, Oliver, has observed that Enwonwu was ‘credited with inventing a Nigerian national aesthetic by fusing indigenous traditions with Western techniques and modes of representation’ (cited Naima Mohamud, Ben Enwonwu: The Nigerian painter behind 'Africa's Mona Lisa' (BBC News, 17 October 2019)
In the 1950s he travelled, lectured and exhibited extensively, especially in the USA and Africa He was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II to sculpt her portrait, executed in London in 1957, and unveiled at the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) later the same year. In 1958 he became a member of the RBA and was awarded an MBE. He maintained a London studio, also lecturing at Lagos University and acting as cultural advisor to the Nigerian government. He was also a visiting artist at the Institute of African Studies at Howard University, Washington, DC, and Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Ife, Illife, Nigeria Ben Enwonwu died in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria on 5 February 1994 His work is featured in numerous public collections including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lagos, in Nigeria and in UK collections including the Ben Uri Collection, the Government Art Collection, and the University of Birmingham
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
COLLECTION: https://benuri.org/collections/
BURU: https://www.buru.org.uk/
