A bronze sculpture of Elizabeth II by the Nigerian sculptor

Ben Enwonwu Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu MBE (14 July 1917 – 5 February 1994), better known as Ben Enwonwu, was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. Arguably the most influential African artist of the 20th century, his pioneering career opened th ...

was commissioned by the Queen on her visit to Nigeria in 1956, and she sat for Enwonwu in London in 1957. It was completed by Enwonwu in London and exhibited by him at the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

exhibition in London in November 1957. The over life-sized statue depicts the Queen seated with her hands in her lap.

Background and creation

The proposal for the sculpture originated with Enwonwu who contacted

Alan Lennox-Boyd Alan Tindal Lennox-Boyd, 1st Viscount Boyd of Merton, CH, PC, DL (18 November 1904 – 8 March 1983), was a British Conservative politician. Background, education and military service Lennox-Boyd was the son of Alan Walter Lennox-Boyd by his ...

, the British government's

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, British Cabinet government minister, minister in charge of managing the United Kingdom's various British Empire, colonial dependencies. Histor ...

. Enwonwu intended the piece to mark Elizabeth's visit to Nigeria during January and February 1956. It was intended that the completed statue would sit in the Nigerian House of Representatives prior to the independence of the Federation of Nigeria and the end of British colonial rule in 1960. The Federation of Nigeria had been a protectorate under British rule since 1954. Following the announcement of the commission in November 1956 the '' West African Review'' wrote that it "sets the royal seal on the renown of West Africa’s most famous artist". The initial sittings were held in

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

in March 1957. A studio was created for Enwonwu at the palace; he would spend an hour sketching and modelling with clay in the studio on a daily basis. Enwonwu later worked in a studio belonging to the

Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland The Sculptor in Ordinary for Scotland is a member of the Royal household in Scotland. The first appointment was made by Queen Victoria around 1838, although it was not listed as a member of the Royal household until the 1870s. The office was mad ...

, William Reid Dick, in Maida Vale in west London due to the growing size of the sculpture. Elizabeth sat for Enwonwu on 12 occasions; eight sittings were held at the palace and four at Reid-Dick's Maida Vale studio. Enwonwu created his initial preparatory sketches of the Queen in watercolours; showing her in frontal poses and capturing her various profiles. Enwonwu also created a bust of Elizabeth to use as a scale model to help develop her final pose and to aid with the depiction of her regalia. It was cast in bronze by Giulio Galicie in London; a second life size version was cast in epoxy resin and was the one displayed at the exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists in London in November 1957. Enwonwu's biographer, Sylvester Ogbechie, felt that he "reworked the Queen's physical features using forms derived from his experiments in sculpture" and created an "interesting hybrid that amalgamated the distinctive features" of the Queen with "the serene expression" of his ''Head of a Yoruba Girl'' sculpture. Ogbechie extensively analysed the sculpture in terms of the subversion of the

white gaze The white gaze is the assumption that the default reader or observer is coming from a perspective of someone who identifies as white, or that people of color sometimes feel need to take into account the white reader or observer's reaction. Various ...

, and colonial perceptions of black male sexual dominance.

Reception

Upon its exhibition at the Royal Society of British Artists exhibition in 1957, '' The Times'' commented that the statue "...conveys the requisite sense of regal dignity which will probably not be fully effective until it is seen from a distance in the sort of public setting for which it was commissioned. In the comparative intimacy of a gallery however the boldly semi abstract treatment of the lower folds of the dress not only directs attention upwards, as designed, to the more conventional realism of the head but it underlines in this and other important, detailed passages of the figure a general feeling of constraint and lack of vitality". Enwonwu was interviewed by the BBC at the exhibition and a news report on him and the sculpture was broadcast on 11 November. The Queen attended the exhibition as its patron and was escorted around the exhibition by Enwonwu. The sculpture was unveiled on 5 November 1959 before the start of the fifth session of the Nigerian House of Representatives in Lagos. The

Governor-General of Nigeria The Governor-General of Nigeria was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in Colonial Nigeria from 1954 to 1960, and after Nigerian independence in 1960, the representative of the Nigerian head of state. The office was created ...

, James Wilson Robertson sent a message to the Queen in which he stated that the statue "...will always be a reminder of the happy occasion just over three years ago when your Majesty and the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

honoured the House by your presence and by your Majesty's gracious speech". The Queen replied in a message in which she said that "I too shall long recall the memorable occasion of my visit to the House three years ago. I send my good wishes to all the members of the House as it enters upon another session and take this opportunity of expressing my confidence that the tradition of parliamentary democracy, which has been so quickly absorbed and developed by Nigerians, will be maintained when Nigeria becomes an independent member of the Commonwealth". The Queen subsequently commissioned Enwonwu to create a bust of her eldest son,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

. Enwonwu gave her his small portrait bust of her.

References

{{coord missing, Nigeria 1957 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Nigeria Colonial Nigeria Outdoor sculptures in Lagos Sculptures by Ben Enwonwu Sculptures of women in Nigeria Statues of Elizabeth II