Lot 89*
Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E(Nigerian, 1917-1994)Bust of Dennis Osadebay 41 x 21 x 25.5cm (16 1/8 x 8 1/4 x 10 1/16in).
28 February 2018, 17:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £13,750 inc. premium
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Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994)
Bust of Dennis Osadebay
bronze resin
41 x 21 x 25.5cm (16 1/8 x 8 1/4 x 10 1/16in).
bronze resin
41 x 21 x 25.5cm (16 1/8 x 8 1/4 x 10 1/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
A private collection, Lagos.
Dennis Chukude Osadebay (1911-1994) was a leading politician during the Nigerian First Republic. A former premier of the now defunct Mid-Western Region of Nigeria, he was also respected poet and journalist, frequently publishing in the West African Pilot newspaper.
On completing his studies in the early 1940s, Osadebay helped to found the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), for which he acted as legal advisor. In 1954, he was elected leader of the opposition in the Western Region House of Assembly. The next decade would mark the pinnacle of his political career: in 1960, he was elected president of the Nigerian Senate, and in 1963 the premier of the newly created Mid-Western Region.
Today Osadebay is better known for his pioneering poetry. His verses typically explore the country's struggle for independence from a personal perspective, drawing on events in his own life. In 1952, he became the first Nigerian indigene to publish a book of poems in England. The collection, titled Africa Sings, was experimental and innovative in form. In 'Black Man Troubles', Osadebay used pidgin English to communicate the injustice of colonial rule in Africa.
Bibliography
A. Gerard, ed., European-language Writing in Sub-Saharan Africa, vol. 2, (Budapest, 1986), p.740.
