
Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E(Nigerian, 1917-1994)Children of Onitsha
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Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994)
signed and dated 'BEN ENWONWU MAY 1959' (lower left)
coloured chalks
78.5 x 56cm (30 7/8 x 22 1/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
The collection of Alan Lennox-Boyd, Viscount Boyd of Merton.
By direct descent to the present owner.
Alan Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton (1904-1983), was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1954. He was tasked with the challenge of overseeing the early stages of decolonisation. During his tenure, Cyprus, Ghana, Iraq, Malaya and Sudan were all granted independence. He held the post until 1959. It was during this year that he acquired this chalk drawing by Enwonwu.
The drawing depicts a group of children from Onitsha in Anambra State, the artist's birthplace. Only seven years after this sketch was made, Enwonwu was forced to abandon his residence in Onitsha when the Nigerian army occupied the town. They established a regional headquarters there from which they could coordinate their attack on the rest of Biafra.
The smiling expressions of the children in this drawing are made all the more poignant when one considers the violent conflict that would shortly engulf them.
Bibliography
S. Ogbechie, Ben Enwonwu: the Making of an African Modernist, (Rochester, 2008), p.171.