Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
Lot 28
Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E(Nigerian, 1917-1994)Anyanwu 89.5 x 25 x 17cm (35 1/4 x 9 13/16 x 6 11/16in).
2 May 2019, 14:00 EDT
New YorkUS$100,000 - US$150,000
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Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994)
Anyanwu
bears a Burleighfield foundry stamp to the lower right edge of the sculpture
bronze
89.5 x 25 x 17cm (35 1/4 x 9 13/16 x 6 11/16in).
bears a Burleighfield foundry stamp to the lower right edge of the sculpture
bronze
89.5 x 25 x 17cm (35 1/4 x 9 13/16 x 6 11/16in).
Footnotes
Anyanwu is one of the artist's most accomplished and recognisable works. The title Anyanwu ('eye of the sun'), refers to the Igbo practice of saluting the rising sun in honour of Chukwu, the Great Spirit. The female figure is the powerful Igbo earth goddess Ani. For Enwonwu, the sculpture was a way of expressing his hopes for a nation on its way towards independence:
"My aim was to symbolise our rising nation. I have tried to combine material, crafts, and traditions, to express a conception that is based on womanhood – woman, the mother and nourisher of man. In our rising nation, I see the forces embodied in womanhood; the beginning, and then, the development and flowering into the fullest stature of a nation – a people! This sculpture is spiritual in conception, rhythmical in movement, and three dimensional in its architectural setting – these qualities are characteristic of the sculpture of my ancestors."
The artist's words clearly express his belief that Anyanwu was a visual manifestation of the new Nigeria, culturally-confident and proud of her heritage. It therefore seems fitting that in 1966, five years after Nigeria gained its independence from the United Kingdom on October 1 1960 that a version of Anyanwu was presented at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The then Nigerian Ambassador Chief Simeon Olaosebikan Adebo gifted it to the Secretary General U Thant in the presence of the artist Ben Enwonwu (pictured above). This version of Anyanwu remains at the UN in New York, and towers over both staff and guests in the corridor of the conference building between the Security Council and Trusteeship Council Chambers.
