Ben Osawe was a Nigerian sculptor of the first post-independence generation, best known for elegant, elongated wood and bronze figures that fuse the forms of Benin court art with a modernist simplicity. Born in Agbor in present-day Delta State in 1931, he studied graphic art at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London from 1956 to 1959, and on returning to Nigeria taught at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His sculptures - slender standing figures, busts of women, 'Benin princess' heads, dancers and totems - are typically carved in dark hardwoods or cast in bronze, with smooth polished surfaces, stylised features and strong vertical rhythm. He worked continuously until his death in 2007, producing work for private and public clients. His sculpture was included in Okwui Enwezor's landmark exhibition 'The Short Century' (shown at P.S.1, New York) and is in the National Museum of Nigeria, Onikan, Lagos, and the World Bank art collection. Since about 2018 his work has appeared regularly in the African sales at Bonhams and Sotheby's in London, where carved figures usually sell for several thousand pounds.
School or movement: Nigerian modernism (post-independence sculpture; Benin-inspired modernist sculpture).
Influenced by Benin (Edo) court art, European modernist sculpture.
