… as Nigerian Emokpae, Ghanaian Delaquis make new record sale in London
Nigerian art auction makes N124.8m in May Interest in Nigerian art is taking a new turn as the May art auction organised by Arthouse Contemporary record- ed a sale of N124,834,000, with a total of 116 lots sold from Africa’s most celebrat- ed artists.
Analysts say as African art moves to the forefront on the global art stage to become one of the fastest growing markets, prices are rising at an unprecedented pace.
Some of the top sales at the Arthouse art auction included internationally renowned Ghanaian artist, El Antasui’s most recent work, Zata, a wood work that sold for N15,400,000.
This was followed by another of Anatsui’s earlier wood panels, Tror, which sold for N7,480,000. Likewise, famous Ni- gerian artist Yusuf Grillo’s work, Truly Hijab?, an oil on board, sold for N11,000,000, while Ben Enwonwu’s iconic works continued to rank as the highest sales at the auction.
His piece, Head of Caroline, a fibre glass work sold for N6,600,000, while another of his work, The Boxer, a wood sculpture sold for N5,500,000. Nana Sonoiki, manager, Arthouse Contemporary Limited, said the N124.8 million sale figure was high- er than that of November 2014 auction, which stood at N100 million.
According to her, the May figure would have been higher as the April elections affected purchasing power.
“Compared to the previ- ous auction, we had a good outing,” she said, saying“the interest in Nigerian art and African art generally is defi- nitely growing. I believe it would have been higher. The elections affected purchas- ing power. The sales figure would have been higher.”
Meanwhile, at the Bon- hams sale of Modern African Art held in London in May, tagged ‘Africa Now,’ a record sale of N256 million was made.
Some of the modern artists whose works made record sale for the first time include Nigerian Erhabor Emokpae, with his work ‘Eda,’ selling for £10,625; Ghanaian Ato Delaquis’ ‘Flamboyants,’ sold for £9,375; Zimbabwean, Ber- nard Matemera’s ‘Elephant Spirit’ sold for £7,750, and two wooden sculpture by El sold for £62,500 or $100,000, respectively.
The superstar Ghanaian artist recently received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 56th International Art Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia.
The top 10 pictures in the sale were dominated by two names – Ben Enwonwu and Yusuf Grillo.
The most valuable item in the sale was by Nigerian artist, Ben Enwonwu, an elegant bronze figure ‘Any- anwu Simplified,’ which bears many similarities to the sculpture commissioned for the National Museum of Lagos in 1958.It was top in the sale at £74,500.
His paint- ing ‘Africa Dances’ 1973, de- picting an energetic dance that serves as a metaphor for Africa’s identity, sold for £68,500, and was the second highest price.
Giles Peppiatt, director of African Art at Bonhams, said the strength of the demand for new works emerging from Africa was growing steadily.
“Once more, records fell in our Africa Now sale. The strength of demand from buyers for this newly appre- ciated art is growing steadily. Sales and exhibitions and media coverage of this phe- nomenon is helping to drive interest, which is fantastic news for a whole new genera- tion of African artists,” he said.
The Nigerian auction market, which is conducted three times a year, between April and December, usually witnesses two major houses putting lots up for sale.
At the April 2014 auc- tion, Bruce Onobrakpeya’s ‘Dance in the Bush,’ sold at the hammer price of N3.65 million, while El Enatsui’s untitled piece and Kolade Oshinowo’s ‘At the Party,’ sold at N3.05 million and N2.2 million, as second and third highest sold works, respectively.
FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
