At Bonhams in London last week, an important rediscovered portrait of an African princess by the Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1921-1994) grabbed the headlines, selling for a record £1.2 million. The 1974 painting, which has an almost mythical status in Nigeria where it is thought of as the African Mona Lisa, had not been seen for decades.
Like Picasso in the Impressionist sales, Enwonwu dominates the African sales. At Bonhams, 21 works by him sold for £1.6 million, or 82 per cent of the total. But while prices for Enwonwu are rising, the same is not true for other contemporary African artists.
A group of six paintings sold by leading African art collector Jean Pigozzi at Sotheby’s in 1999 met with mixed results at the Bonhams sale. Two showed a modest increase, but the others either made a loss or, like Francois Thango’s composition, were unsold.
Overall the sale, Bonham’s fifth devoted to Modern and Contemporary African art, made almost £2 million. Not quite their best yet, but well above estimate.
Is it indicative of a boom in contemporary African art? Charles Saatchi is hoping so, putting 18 works from his collection into Sotheby’s Modern and Contemporary African art sale later this month.
Estimates for these pieces range from £3,000 to £35,000 for a stitched coal sack work (a metaphor for slave labour) by Ibrahim Mahama, an artist who attracted international attention at the Venice Biennale three years ago when he lined a whole street with sacking.
Source: The Telegraph