Helene Love-Allotey
Head of Department
Lot 12*
Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E(Nigerian, 1917-1994)Africa Dances
Amended
17 March 2021, 17:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £87,750 inc. premium
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Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994)
Africa Dances
signed and dated 'Ben Enwonwu 1985' (lower right)
oil on board
86 x 49cm (33 7/8 x 19 5/16in).
signed and dated 'Ben Enwonwu 1985' (lower right)
oil on board
86 x 49cm (33 7/8 x 19 5/16in).
Footnotes
Ben Enwonwu's interest in dance can be seen as early as the mid 1930's, whilst still a student of Kenneth C. Murray. Enwonwu represented dance in both sculpture and painting. The use of the term 'Africa Dances' only came into use after Enwonwu read Geoffrey Gorer's book of the same name whilst studying in Oxford in 1945. As Sylvester Ogbechie writes:
"The Africa Dances series differed from previous representations of dancing figures because it focused on symbolic meaning of dance, while earlier images of dancing figures provided literal documentation of specific types of dance."
In this painting, Enwonwu is focusing on movement and rhythm. The artist achieves this through the use of a central dancer surrounded by multiple figures echoing the pose of the focal figure in order to give the illusion of movement. The use of a more sculptural form is also evident in this painting. Enwonwu considered himself as primarily a sculptor and this can be seen to filter into his paintings. In the artist's own words:
"I enjoy painting now better than ever before. My painting is beginning to show certain aspects of formal relationship with my sculpture and has stripped itself of the western academic veneer that I had to learn at the Slade. Slowly but unconsciously certain sculpturesque forms began to appear in my paintings."
This painting is a prime example of both the use of sculptural qualities in painting and the multiple methods by which Enwonwu was able to convey movement and rhythm through a static medium.
"In his paintings, he had tried to capture this essence [of Dance] by tracking the body in its motions through space, using fractal surfaces and many figures to convey the idea of vigorous movement, which carried the eye in quick jumps to multiple points of focus." (Ogbechie)
Bibliography
S. Ogbechie, Ben Enwonwu: The Making of an African Modernist, (Rochester, 2008), pp.96-190
Saleroom notices
Please note: This work is dated '1965', not '1985' as stated in the catalogue.
