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 "Tutu", by Nigeria's best-known modern artist Ben Enwonwu, was
painted in 1974 and appeared at an art show in Lagos the
following year but its whereabouts after that were unknown until
it re-surfaced in north London.
"It was his greatest masterpiece and people have been asking
'where is Tutu?' So to have this image turn up is
extraordinary," said Giles Peppiatt, an expert in modern and
contemporary African art at London auction house Bonhams, who
identified the painting.
The portrait of Adetutu Ademiluyi, who was a grand-daughter of a
revered traditional ruler from the Yoruba ethnic group, holds
special significance in Nigeria as a symbol of national
reconciliation after the 1967-1970 Biafran War.
Enwonwu belonged to the Igbo ethnic group, the largest in the
southeastern region of Nigeria that had tried to secede under
the name of Biafra. The Yoruba people, whose homeland is in the
southwest, were mostly on the opposing side in the war.
Enwonwu painted three versions of the portrait. The other two
remain lost, although prints first made in the 1970s have been
in circulation ever since and the images are familiar to many
Nigerians. Enwonwu died in 1994.
Oliver Enwonwu, the artist's son, is president of the Society of
Nigerian Artists.
"This is a very significant discovery, given my father’s
contribution to Nigerian art and African art, more broadly," he
told Reuters in Lagos.
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Peppiatt said it had come as a shock to him to find the painting
hanging in a north London home where he was called to examine it,
because he had been on several wild goose chases in the past in
search of the originals.
The owners did not wish to be identified, he said.
The work will be sold on Feb. 28 in an auction at Bonhams in London
that will be shown live at the Wheatbaker, a boutique hotel popular
with artists in Ikoyi, a wealthy neighborhood of Lagos.
The price estimate is between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds
($277,600-$416,400).
"We are quite hopeful about it because the market for Nigerian
modern art is really strong at the moment. I've been in the market
for 12 years and it's as strong as I've ever known it," Peppiatt
told Reuters.
One of the challenges in organising a live auction connecting London
and Lagos could be the Nigerian city's unreliable power supplies.
Despite the widespread use of back-up generators, electricity
blackouts are a frequent feature of Lagos life, often affecting
internet connections.
"It's the first time anyone has done it so that will be rather
exciting," said Peppiatt. "Assuming the IT works."
(Writing by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison)
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