By Chris Onuoha
…Ooni of Ife, Grillo, Onobrakpeya, Oshinowo, others react
In a live video and audio simulcast monitored in Lagos at
Wheatbaker hotels and held at Bonhams salesroom in
London at 17 hours GMT, Bonhams Africa Now auction
sales of Modern and Contemporary African Arts made
huge impression in the global art space with array of
works from African masters in their own rights.
With a sizeable number of bidders, diplomats, artists and
enthusiasts that filled both Lagos and London
salesrooms, there was excitement and mixed feelings as
to what the outcome of the bidding would be.
And with the much hyped buzz of Tutu’s painting estimated at
£200,000–£300,000, there was optimism based on the
previous performance of Enwonwu’s Spirit of Ogolo that
sold for £235,000 at Bonhams auction.
Yusuf Grillio’s Evangelist: Cymbal, triangle and ambourine
Giles Peppiatt, Director, Bonhams African Art, functioning
as the auctioneer, started the bidding with
Ben
Enwonwu’s pastel and watercolor painting titled Fulani
girl. With much speculation on the most featured works
only Enwonwu’s paintings turned the table around. Yusuf
Grillio’s Evangelist: Cymbal, triangle and tambourine sold
for £56,750 falling under £50 – 70,000 estimated. El-
Anatsui’s work, Ancestor’s Conference also made it to
£47,500 while Cheri Samba’s Le Democratie generated
£27,000.
Ablade Glover, a Ghanaian famous painter also
hyped the sales. Others made slight impression in the
bidding making the wholes sale worthwhile.
Meanwhile, Professor Benedict Chukwukadidia Enwonwu
broke a new record in African contemporary art
auctioning selling a whooping £1,208,750 from
£200,000–£300,000 estimate, while his other works,
Negritude and Female form made it to £100,000 and
£110,000 respectively.
This feat, according to some
school of thought, shows that Africa has come of age as
an emerging market in the global art mart.
Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Enitan
Ogunwusi, while reacting to the good news said, “I am
very happy with the outcome of the sales, although it was
expected. It is a great new development coming from
Africa.
The House of Oduduwa has played a pivotal role in
keeping and bringing African heritage to limelight. I am
happy and believe that this is the beginning of more good
things coming from Africa.
As prominent an artist as Yusuf Grillo, whose work
performed better in last year October 2017 auction in
London, his works dipped in this February 2018 sales. His
works barely rose above its estimates. When asked
whether he is satisfied with the sales, he told News Agency
Arts & Reviews that, “I am a studio artist and not an art
dealer.
More so, the auction did not happen in my gallery
to determine the biding criteria.”
Bruce Onobrakpeya who commented on factors that
determine values of artworks said, “Certainly, artworks
appreciate very much after the death of artists.
In the
case Ben Enwonwu, he has virtually enjoyed the benefits,
patronage and appreciation after his death.
The nature of
art is that sometimes, the art that appreciates very high in
value at a particular time can also come down in value
during and after the death of the artist.
The works of Rembrandt as an example sold heavily in his
life time and went down after some years. In most time,
if the artist is very famous and doing very good works,
whichever one that comes out can always appreciate in
value particularly after the death. But personally, the
value of artworks can go down in the future.”
For Ben Enwonwu’s painting that made landmark sales, it
is a good thing for us as artists in Africa.
There’s a lot of
hope for all of us. You will notice that before, some of our
artworks appreciate more in Nigeria than abroad. But
now this one has really come up high; it is a good
development for the Nigerian contemporary art. That is to
say the Nigerian contemporary art has value in Africa and
across the globe.”
Ben Enwonwu’s ‘Tutu’
sold for £1,208,750
The work of Kolade Oshinowo, who is still in the mood of
his 70th birthday celebration, was also auctioned.
He sees the success of Tutu and other African artworks in
this February auction “is a new development for the
African art. It has put African contemporary art where it
should be. It has raised the bar and it is well-deserved
because contemporary African art has come to be
reckoned with in the world.
But my worry is that I hope it
will not be what I may call ‘A one day wonder’. I hope the
trend continues.
For me personally, Tutu is not the best work that Uncle
Ben painted but then, there are mysteries to this work.
Just like Monalisa, it is not the best from Leonardo Da
Vinci, but as it stands, Monalisa has been surpassed by
the recent auction that almost fetched half a billion
dollars.
In auction sales, you can’t predict.
Sometimes it doesn’t give you a realistic situation
because a lot goes into auctions when you have two
competing buyers who want to outdo themselves
resulting in soaring price. But then, like I said, it is a
welcome development because the benchmark is high for
African art now.”
Similarly, renowned painter, printmaker and Dean, School
of Art, Design and Printing, Yaba College of technology,
Dr. Kunle Adeyemi says that African art is actually an
emerging market: “It will still be much better because
what we are seeing is just the preliminary.
What happened in this Bonhams sales has portrayed that
there’s a lot of art that has to do with Africans, and more
importantly, that can compete favourably with the global
space. Our future is so bright particularly in the art
industry.
People from here will believe and begin to invest
in African art.
“When a market is buoyant but not discovered, the
discovery will come gradually. We may not be able to say
the market is saturated, whether it is in Europe, America,
UK, Asia or any other place, but right now, there’s a
discovery of art market in Africa and that’s the most
important thing that has happened to African art and
appreciation.
Ben Enwonwu’s Female form
I want you to know that even the impressionist – Picasso,
Michelangelo and others discovered so much aesthetic
materials in African art that was incorporated in their art
and that changed the global art space.
For this one, I am
not surprised because we have all it takes to emerge as
the art of the day for the future.
“The Tutu we are talking about today is very symbolic.
It is actually a work of an artist that goes to tell you that art
goes beyond ethnic chauvinism, nepotism, corruption and
all that. Ben Enwonwu, for instance, is an Eastern Igbo.
He came to Ife and worked on the portrait of Tutu, a
Yoruba who is a royal princess.
At that, you can see the connectivity of art with the
human angle. What it means is that visual art is
something that unites and takes away some of these
vices that we bind ourselves with. A good artist,
irrespective of who he is or where he comes from –
whether he is your friend, enemy or rival – is a good
artist. Art in the global space does not respect war.
It tells people that there’s beauty in life, human race and
space and that there has to be unity all over the world.
Some of these things are stories telling us that as
Africans, we can reform our society through art.”
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