Ben Enwonwu

Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu was born on July 14, 1917, in Onitsha, Anambra State. His father was a traditional Igbo carver and his mother a prosperous merchant. After studying under Kenneth Murray in Nigeria, he earned a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art and the University of London, mastering European academic techniques while deepening his commitment to indigenous aesthetic philosophies.

In 1956, Enwonwu made history when Queen Elizabeth II sat for him in Buckingham Palace, becoming the first African artist commissioned to create an official royal portrait. His monumental bronze statue of the rising sun, Anyanwu, outside the National Museum in Lagos, and his mesmerizing 1974 portrait of Ife royal princess Adetutu Ademiluyi (Tutu) stand as towering masterpieces fusing African spiritual identity with modernism.