Lot 228: Susanne Wenger, (Adunni Olurisa), Austrian 1915-2009- Untitled figures,

Susanne Wenger, (Adunni Olurisa), Austrian 1915-2009- Untitled figures, c.1965; screenprint in grey and black, bears label for F J Harris & Son Pictures (Bath) Ltd 13 & 14 Green Street Bath attached to the reverse of the frame, 76x51cm (may be subject to Droit de Suite) Provenance: Purchased in Nigeria by the parents of the current owner during the 1950s Susanne Wenger, (Adunni Olurisa), Austrian 1915-2009

Susanne Wenger was born in Graz, Austria. She studied art there and later in Vienna at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1947 she co-founded the Vienna Art-Club. After living in Switzerland and Italy she moved to Paris in 1949 where she met the German linguist, Ulli Beier. Shortly after they married and moved to Ibadan, Nigeria, where he was to take up a post as a phonetician. In 1950 Wenger and her husband moved from Ibadan to nearby Ede. After becoming ill with tuberculosis, she turned to Yoruba religion and later became a Yoruba priestess. Wenger had initially been attracted to the religion after meeting one of the remaining priests of the Olorisha religion and quickly becoming engrossed in his life and rituals. During this period she and Beier mentored a group of local artists that were to become the New Sacred Art Movement. Wenger and Beier eventually divorced and in 1959 she married a local drummer Ayansola Oniru. She went on to adopt more than a dozen Yoruba children. Wenger become the guardian of the Sacred Grove of Osun goddess on the banks of the Osun river in Oshogbo and as her influence increased, the grove became a focal point for artists and those that celebrated Yoruba. The festival to worship the goddess Osun that takes place every August continues to attract thousands of visitors today. In 2005 UNESCO listed the grove as a world heritage site and in that same year, Wenger was made a member of Nigeria's federal republic. Wenger died in Osogbo in 2009.