Third Text

Olu Oguibe

In this pioneering work, Olu Oguibe charts the life and career of Uzo Egonu, from his origins in Africa to his expatriation in Britain. Egonu, a remarkable, compassionate and very private artist, has been described as ‘perhaps Africa’s greatest modern painter’, one whose work challenges the impoverished Western myth of the naive African artist. The complexity of Egonu’s work is firmly located within the tradition of modernism. What we see is a judicious synthesis of visual languages developed from his critical encounter with Western art and an informed awareness of his African heritage; a synthesis which reaches beyond mere formalist concerns to involve both the experiences of his life in the West and the painful turmoils of his country of origin, post-colonial Nigeria. Egonu died in London in 1996.

‘This monograph is a timely intervention in the prevailing debates on the role, position and aesthetic concerns of the African artist in the contemporary world, and offers a unique contribution to the scarce literature on artists of African, Asian or Latin American origin living in the West. This insightful study is the most sophisticated and intensive full-length analysis of a modern African visual artist.’   
Simon Ottenberg, Emeritus Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
 

Published in 1995
Paperback
176pp with 65 colour and 41 b&w illustrations
ISBN 0 947753 08 7

Uzo Egonu: An African Artist in the West can be purchased from Central Books