Lot 1: BURAIMOH GBADAMOSI (NIGERIAN, BORN 1938) Osogbo deities s

BURAIMOH GBADAMOSI (NIGERIAN, BORN 1938) Osogbo deities stone one 23cm (9 1/16cm) high; the other 21cm (8 11/16in) high -2

Provenance The collection of Susanne Wenger. Purchased from Wenger in 1984, Osogbo, Nigeria. By direct descent to the current owner. The Austrian artist, Susanne Wenger, moved to Nigeria in 1949 when her then husband, Ulli Beier, was offered a position at the University of Ibadan. They settled in Ede, where Wenger was exposed to Yoruba religion. She was educated on the principles and practices of Orisha worship by Ajagemo, a Priest of Obatala, eventually becoming a Yoruba Priestess herself. Wenger’s spiritual conversion encouraged her to restore the local shrines and places of worship. She commissioned artists and craftsmen from the region to sculpt representation of the Orisha (Yoruba gods). One of these sculptors was Buraimoh Gbadamosi. He produced a number of stone carvings for Wenger. The present lots were part of her personal collection and were housed in her residence, Adunni Olorisha House. The figure holding a head is most likely a representation of Osanyin, the Yoruba god of medicine. The other appears to be a fertility goddess. Bibliography N. Saunders & A. Merzeder-Taylor, Susanne Wenger: Her House and Her Art Collection, (Lagos, 2006), p.62.