BEN ENWONWU | NEGRITUDE WITH IGBO MASK

Private Collection, Nigeria

The Igbo mask depicted is most likely the same one in the collection of the National Museum in Lagos, and published in Ekpo Eyo, Two Thousand Years of Nigerian Art, 1977, p. 205. The mmanwu ogbuka portrays the analogy between wild animals and the bravery, strength and vitality of young men, and provides a contrast to both the womanly beauty of the Negritude figure behind, as well as the Agbogho Mmuo maiden dancers illustrated in Ogolo (lot 30) and opposite in Masquerade Dancer (lot 33).