Masterpiece found in modest London unit
'Tutu' was painted in 1974, but then went missing a year later.
An iconic Nigerian masterpiece worth more than $350,000 has been found in a humble London unit.
The painting by the country’s famous artist Ben Enwonwu is a portrait of Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu.
The famous work was completed in 1974 and appeared in a Lagos art show a year later, but then vanished, Metro UK reports.
It is not known how the painting came to be at the unit, and its owners have requested anonymity.
The discovery was made by auction house Bonhams’ director of modern African art Gile Peppiatt.
“Sometimes you go somewhere on a wing and a prayer, you don’t know what you are going to see ... this was an enormous surprise,” Mr Peppiatt said.
It is a picture, image-wise, that has been known to me for a long time, so it was a real lightbulb moment; I thought: ‘Oh my god, this is extraordinary.’”
The painting will go under the hammer on February 28.
Enwonwu, who died in 1994, rose to fame when he was commissioned to create a bronze sculpture of Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Nigeria in 1956.
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