Ben Enwonwu

Ben Enwonwu was born a twin on 14 July 1917 into the noble family of Umueze-Aroli in Onitsha, Nigeria. His father, Omenka Odigwe Emeka Enwonwu, was a technician who worked with the Royal Niger Company. He was also a member of the Onitsha Council of Chiefs and a traditional sculptor of repute, who created staffs of office, stools, decorative doors and religious images.[4] His mother, Chinyelugo Iyom Nweze was a successful cloth merchant.

Upon his father's death in 1921, Enwonwu inherited his tools, going on to perfect the art of carving in the style of indigenous Igbo sculpture, begun earlier with his father, who first nurtured his precocious talent.

Between 1921 and 1931, Enwonwu attended 5 primary schools; St. Joseph's Elementary School, Onitsha (1926–1928); St, Theresa's Elementary School, Umuahia (1928–1929); St. Mary's Primary School, Port Harcourt (1929–1930); Holy Trinity Primary; and St. Mary's Primary School, both in Onitsha (1930–1931). In 1933, Enwonwu attended St. Patrick's School, Ibusa and later enrolled at the Government College, Ibadan, completing his secondary education at Government College Umuahia in 1937. At both colleges, he studied fine art under Kenneth C. Murray. Murray was an education officer in charge of art education in the colonial civil service and later director of antiquities.[5] During their time together, Enwonwu became Murray's assistant and was recognised as one of the most gifted and technically proficient students of the “Murray Group” (Ben C. Enwonwu, C.C. Ibeto, D.L. Nnachy, and A.P. Umana). The period of study under Murray marked the beginning of Enwonwu's formal education in art.[6] In 1944, under a joint Shell Petroleum Company and British Council scholarship, he attended the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London and in 1945, the Ruskin School, Ashmolean, Oxford University where the Slade had been relocated during World War II. In 1947, he received a first class diploma in fine art from the Slade and registered for postgraduate work in anthropology (with a focus on West African ethnography) at the University of London. In 1948, Enwonwu completed his studies.[7]

Nkiru Nzegwu states that the racist atmosphere he encountered during his stay in England sparked his interest in entering this program. Anthropology offered a space for the scientific study of the races, their physical and mental characteristics, customs, and social relationships.In 1937, Murray exhibited Enwonwu's work at the Zwemmer Gallery in London [6][8] In 1969, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.[4]

After working with Murray for many years, he was hired as a teacher at the Government College of Umuahia. According to Sylvester Ogbechie, author of Ben Enwonwu: The Making of an African Modernist, Murray was displeased with the university's choice to provide Enwonwu with the same salary as the other seasoned teachers. This created a rift between both men. Eventually Murray left Government College and Enwonwu replaced him as art teacher.[7] He continued his work as an art teacher in other various schools, including mission school in Calabar Province (1940–41), and Edo College, Benin City (1941–43). He was art adviser to the Nigerian government from 1948. During the years following 1950, he toured and lectured in the United States, and executed many commissions as a freelance artist. From 1949 to 1954, In 1951, he met with the founding members Lagos auxiliary to the Anti Slavery and Aborigines Right Society which was at that time headed by Candido Da Rocha, and had James Johnson, Samuel Pearse, and Sapara Williams as members.[9] and became their official art illustrator. Enwonwu held many art exhibitions within London, Lagos, Milan, New York City, Washington D.C., and Boston. During her visit to Nigeria in 1956, Queen Elizabeth II commissioned and sat for a portrait sculpture by the artist. During the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in London of 1957, he unveiled the bronze sculpture.[7] In 1959, Enwonwu was appointed Supervisor in the Information Service Department office in Nigeria.[4] He was a fellow of Lagos University, Lagos (1966–68), cultural advisor to the Nigeria government (1968–71), and visiting artist at the Institute of African Studies at Howard University, Washington, DC, in 1971.[2] He was appointed the first professor of Fine Arts at the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, from 1971 to 1975. He was also art consultant to the International Secretariat, Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Lagos of 1977.

He executed portraits of Nigerians as private commissions, and illustrated Amos Tutuola’s The Brave African Huntress. He maintained a studio in London and was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, and a member of Royal Academy of Arts, London.