Nigeria’s Ben Enwonwu’s Painting ‘Christine’ Fetches £1.1m After Google Search
A painting by Nigerian artist considered the father of Nigerian modernism sold at auction in London on Tuesday for £1.1 million after the family who owned it googled the signature and realised its significance.
“Christine” by 20th century master of African modernism, Ben Enwonwu, had been in the sitter’s family home ever since it was painted in Lagos in 1971.
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The London auction house said “The family were unaware of the significance of the painting or the importance of the artist, until a chance “googling” of the signature led them to Sotheby’s free Online Estimate Platform,”
The paintings final unction value was over seven times the pre-auction estimate, finally going under the hammer for £1.1 million (1.3 million euros, $1.4 million).
The unction value of the work precedes the artist’s 1974 painting of Ife royal princess “Tutu” (Adetutu Ademiluyi) “the African Mona Lisa”, which recently turned up in a London flat after not being seen in decades.
“Christine” becomes the second most expensive painting by a Nigerian painter behind the work of Njideka Akunyili ‘Bush Bades’ which sold for $3.3 million.
