Ben Enwonwu's work for government

This poster, titled ‘African Produce Stall’, is one of 11 posters in our collections that were commissioned by the Ministry of Information from Ben Enwonwu during the Second World War, and were aimed at the local population in Nigeria.

Although the intended message is not specified in the files, the poster appears to be encouraging the use of locally produced food rather than imported goods. A sign on the stall says ‘Home grown’ and another ‘No tinned food sold here’.

Two similar Enwonwu posters show people thatching a house and maintaining a bicycle, which echo the UK’s ‘Make do and mend’ campaign, encouraging thrift and avoiding waste of resources.

This poster was discovered, un-catalogued, in our collections and is thought to be a previously unknown work by Enwonwu. There is no information about its intended audience, but the poster is within a volume of propaganda aimed at British colonies indicating it was intended for use within Nigeria.

The poster was attached to a page with the title ‘Yams’ written next to it. It shows Enwonwu’s signature and the date 1942. The poster is on thin paper that had become damaged along the fold but has now been repaired.

Yams hold particular cultural significance in Nigeria and are a symbol of prosperity. The annual New Yam Festival, known in different dialects as Iri Ji, Iwa Ji, Oureshi and Otute, is a traditional Igbo celebration, and the poster would appear to be connecting with this.

This poster is contained within a volume of Second World War propaganda intended for the British colonies. The notes at the top of the page show that 5,000 ‘blanks’ were intended for Nigeria, 12 for the USA and 173 for the ‘internal district’. Enwonwu has signed and dated the poster 1942.

The image shows men and boys tapping rubber, one of a number of natural resources exported from Nigeria in support of the war effort. The colonial government had introduced production quotas and labour practices aimed at increasing production, and from 1941 to 1943 exports of rubber more than tripled.

This had a detrimental impact on the local population, economy and agricultural landscape. The focus on clearing land for rubber plantations and reducing crop variety depleted the nutrients in the soil, and using labour to cultivate rubber reduced production of food crops, in turn causing food shortages.

This image shows an entry for Ben Enwonwu in the Nigeria Gazette. Gazettes were the official newspapers produced by most colonies and dominions, and they generally provided information on a variety of subjects from the economy and population to meteorology and crime.

Gazettes also included notices of government appointments, promotions and transfers. This edition, dated 25 November 1948, shows Ben Enwonwu moving from his role in Education to become the new Art Supervisor in the Public Relations department.

A directive in another file, CO 554/2024, explains that the role of Art Advisor involved guiding the colonial government on decoration of government and public buildings, and on matters relating to art scholarships and education. In addition, the role involved representing the government at national and international conferences and promoting African art and artistic culture.

In 1955 Enwonwu was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s birthday honours. This image shows his name on the list kept by the Prime Minister’s Office, but the reason for the award is not recorded in the file.

The Ben Enwonwu Foundation says it was in ‘recognition of his contributions to the advancement of Art in Africa and the world’, whereas an article in The Scotsman in November 1956 attributed the award to ‘his public sculptures in Nigeria’.

This entry on a passenger list for the merchant vessel Accra shows Ben Enwonwu arriving in Plymouth from Lagos in January 1957. His UK address is shown as Nigeria Office, 41 Buckham [Buckingham] Pal [Palace] Road, London SW1 and his occupation is Government artist.

HM Queen Elizabeth II had visited Nigeria in 1956 and subsequently Enwonwu had been asked to produce a statue of her for the government buildings in Lagos – the first African to receive such a commission. His arrival in January 1957 indicates the beginning of this work.

This extract from a memo by Christopher Eastwood is part of a series of correspondence between Enwonwu, the Colonial Office, and representatives of the Palace about his work on a statue of Queen Elizabeth II.

Eastwood was Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Colonial Office and this memo relates how he had met with Enwonwu and visited him in his studio to see how the work was progressing.

Other correspondence in the file includes letters between Enwonwu, the Colonial Office and the colonial Nigerian government. In one letter Enwonwu expresses frustration with ‘the British side of the Nigerian Government’ that was failing to give him due recognition. He comments that ‘Having produced a portrait-statue of H. M. seems to have upset some Europeans in the Civil service that more commissions for national work for me have been probably struck off the programme.’