Anyanwu

Anyanwu or The Awakening (bronze) is one of Ben Enwonwu's greatest works famous for its illustration of his pioneering contributions to modern art in Nigeria and Africa through the invention of a new visual language that engaged nationalist and Pan-Africanist ideals.

Anyanwu, which literally means “the sun”, is a representation of a sun deity in the form of a woman dressed in a royal regalia, typical of the Bini people. Its aesthetic significance lies in Enwonwu’s combination of movement and stasis, realism and abstraction and the work’s embodiment of grace and power. It is also pays homage to the philosophies of Negritude and Dance which were both central to the African metaphysics and formal ideologies of Ben Enwonwu as an artist.

The first edition was done in 1954-55 as a life-size commission for the Nigerian government to mark the opening of the National Museum in Lagos by British artist Kenneth Murray, who was Ben Enwonwu’s teacher. A copy of the sculpture was commissioned and presented by the Nigerian government to the United Nations (UN) on October 5, 1966 in support of world peace. With many African nations gaining independence around that time, Anyanwu symbolised an emergent continent and the yearnings and aspirations of her people. It remains one of the most recognisable works in our national consciousness and stands gracefully at the lobby of the UN headquarters in New York. Due to popular demand years after, Enwonwu executed numerous replicas of the work as commissions for different collectors.