Lot 11: UZO EGONU (NIGERIAN, 1931-1996) ‘Adoration of the Divine Ki

UZO EGONU (NIGERIAN, 1931-1996) ‘Adoration of the Divine King’ signed and dated ‘Egonu/ 72’ (upper left); inscribed with title (verso) oil on canvas 115 x 149.5cm (45 1/4 x 58 7/8in).

Provenance The estate of the artist. During the 1960s Uzo Egonu moved away from conventional naturalism towards a non-representational aesthetic. Figures and objects are broken down into simple, geometric shapes and delineated with thick black outlines. His colour palettes communicate mood and atmosphere rather than objective reality. The overall effect is to create abstract decorative patterns, reminiscent of textile designs. Egonu became increasingly preoccupied with texture in this period. Moving away from mimetic representation allowed him greater freedom to explore the physical properties of his media. In Adoration of the Divine King, the artist has abraded certain areas of the paint surface to reveal the bare canvas beneath. This abrasion and stippling lends the work a tactile quality, and evokes volume in spite of the linearity. The present lot is characteristic of Egonu’s works from the early 1970s in its abandonment of traditional perspective. No longer interested in creating the illusion of depth, the artist began to experiment with multiple viewpoints, including cyclical and bird’s eye. He previously employed these devices in Exodus painted in 1970 (illustrated Oguibe p.65). Egonu’s formal experiments of the 1960s and 70s position him as one of the key figures of Nigerian modernism. However, the pre-eminence of line can also be seen as a return to traditional Igbo techniques. The Uli designs of Igbo murals and body painting are strongly linear, occupying shallow space. The traditional colour schemes of black (derived from charcoal), red/brown (camwood tree), yellow (earth) and white (clay), have also been employed by Egonu. Bibliography O. Oguibe, Uzo Egonu: An African Artist in the West, (London, 1995) pp.61-65.