Uzo Egonu (Nigerian, 1931-1996) Man with glass of beer
Provenance : Provenance A private collection; Bonhams sale, New York, September 2020, Lot 3; A private collection, USA. Literature O.Oguibe, Uzo Egonu: An African Artist in the West, (London 1995), p.140 (illustrated). Born in Nigeria in 1931, Uzo Egonu moved to England in 1945 where he would subsequently stay until his death in 1996. He studied at two prestigious art schools, Camberwell School of Art and St Martin's School of Art. By the time the present lot was executed in 1979, Egonu was an established and internationally successful artist. In the 1970s, he had already exhibited at the Camden Arts Centre in London, Kresge Art Gallery at Michigan State University, Three Dimensions Gallery in California and FESTAC in Lagos, Nigeria. Man with a glass of beer is part of a wider series that Egonu completed in the late 1970s, where he became obsessed with everyday habits of ordinary people. Paired with his developed cataracts in both eyes from the years 1979 to 1983, this period of painting was labelled as his 'Painting in Darkness' period with palettes presumably mixed from memory. Egonu characheerised this period as 'pulling through'. (Uzo Egonu, 'Painting in Darkness 1979-1983', undated manuscript, p 2. Artist's private papers.)
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Notes : This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR
Condition_report : This work is in very good global condition. There is a very small crack in the white area at the nape. There are slight creases at the corners of the work, due to the stretching technique on the stretcher frame. The white mark at the very bottom in the grey area appears to be an element of the work, created by the artist. Under UV inspection, the work shows no signs of restoration.
