The Arts-Muse Fair

Ben Enwonwu’s  painting of Ile-Ife princess,  Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, was on Wednesday, in a London auction, sold for £1, 205,000, four times more than expected. In naira terms, it was sold for N508, 358, 301, an African record.  The Nigerian masterpiece, initially declared missing was found in a “modest north London flat” recently. The painting, ranked by arts collectors with Mona Lisa, was done by Nigeria’s renowned artist late Ben Enwonwu in 1974. Bonhams, the auction company announced the record price for the paint, which measures  97 x 66.5cm  and was signed by Enwonwu and dated 1974. The identity of the buyer of the Lot 47 has not been disclosed yet.  There were other Enwonwu’s paints sold at the same auction, but none fetched anything near Tutu. Ben Enwonwu Enwonwu’s Fulani Girl fetched £13,125. Children of Onitsha got £11,250.  A Driveway Ibadan  fetched £12,150, while Dancers got £11,250.  Ita...

Participants and guests from all over Nigeria will tomorrow, Tuesday 27 th February, 2018, converge on the auditorium of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Maitama, Abuja for the inaugural Capital Territory Book Convention being organised by Delta Book club, a subsidiary of Delta Publications (Nigeria) Limited. Chief Dillibe Onyeama, President, The Delta Book Club The convention, which starts from 11am, will comprise of the first Abubakar Gimba Lecture Series, unveiling and presentation of THE WRITER magazine as well presentation and Prize –giving of the winning novel of the first Abubakar Gimba Literary Award. Prof. Vicky Sylvester of the University of Abuja will present the Abubakar Gimba Lecture initiated to celebrate the writings and ideals of the late Nigerian novelist Mal. Abubakar Gimba while Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of the NUC will chair the convention. Akintunde Oyajobi, author of the novel Nostalgia will receive his priz...

The opening ceremony of a one-week intensive workshop on Islamic calligraphy and visual arts held earlier today in Minna Niger state.   Guests at the opening ceremony The workshop, themed Towards Tertiary Tuition of Islamic Arts & Calligraphy: Prospects for the Nigerian economy , draws participants from within and without Nigeria including calligraphy and Persian rug weaving experts from Iran. An exhibition of Islamic and conventional visual art works with the theme, Confluence of two visual art s would also hold alongside the workshop.     Dr. Adam Sheikh Lemu Organiser of the event, Dr. Adam Sheikh Lemu explained in his opening remarks that the workshop seeks to initiate the critical step needed towards mainstreaming Islamic calligraphy and other forms of Islamic Arts into the curriculum of Fine and Applied arts in tertiary education of Nigeria.   Persian carpet weaving trainer He commended the Iranian embassy in Nigeria for suppo...

Nigeria’s Film fans, actors, producers and musicians flocked to the screening of Marvel superhero movie “Black Panther” which premiered on Friday night at IMAX Cinemas in Lekki Lagos. The Walt Disney Co movie, which features a predominantly black cast, is set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda. It tells the story of the new king, T‘Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), who is challenged by rival factions. Nigeria is also a cultural powerhouse that boasts the continent’s biggest film industry, known as Nollywood. Lagos is the country’s filmmaking hub. At the screening of Black Panther at IMAX Cinemas, done in collaboration with UBA Plc, Nollywood stars mingled with TV personalities and musicians. The showing was one of a number of screenings in the city this weekend. Most people were dressed in traditional Nigerian robes and gowns, with some opting to wear specially made attire in keeping with the film’s futuristic take on African garments. “Black Panther is...

British Council  in collaboration with the African Storybook Initiative invites writers and illustrators to participate in a residential workshop for the production of mother-tongue based multilingual storybooks. The workshop is a component of the broader Story Making West Africa project which aims to promote the arts, education and mother-tongue based multilingual education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Story Making West Africa workshop pilots an initiative to create stories in indigenous languages and is an opportunity for individual West African writers and illustrators to contribute to the production of these storybooks at any African Storybook reading level, in indigenous languages and English. Workshop Output 1:  Up to 20 draft story manuscripts with ten manuscripts selected for publishing. Each manuscript will consist of 12-page stories in at least two languages (an indigenous African language and English). Workshop Output 2:  Illustrators draw and colour five...

BY PAUL LIAM Last Saturday in Minna, Niger state, Ayisha Osori read her book Love Does Not Win Elections to an excited audience. In this piece, Paul Liam reports on the book chat. Saturday 3rd, February 2018 shall linger for a very long time in the minds of guests who attended the feast of intellectual discourses that permeated the triangular hall of the AMAB Bookshop, Minna, Niger state. The event was a special guest author bookchat and signing put together by the triad of AMAB Books, Hill-top Creative Arts Foundation, and The Arts-Muse Fair Blog for Ayisha Osori, the quintessential social activist, lawyer and author of Love Does Not Win Elections. The author encountered an unusual literary reception in Minna, reading her debut non-fictional thriller, which chronicles her exploits as a political novice who contested for the primary election under the PDP for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the 2015 elections and lost. The obviously overwhelmed Osori, ...

Book : No Longer at Ease Author : Chinua Achebe Reviewer : Nana Sule If you were among the many that wondered what became of Okonkwo’s family after he hung himself in Things Fall Apart, then wonder no more. And no, this is no longer about sacrificing an adopted son, evil forests, wrestling, wars and conquering villages, it is about a time from a bit more present. The descendants of the great Okonkwo find themselves as a devoted Christian father and a well-learned son. Obi Okonkwo is the name of the grandchild of the late Okonkwo of Umuofia. He is the first person from Umuofia to cross the seas of Nigeria into the great England. Sent from a loan contribution by all the households in Umuofia to study law, Obi returns to Nigeria, an English graduate and in love with an Osu . Although the people of Umuofia are ready to condone the change of profession, and even give him all the time in the world to repay the loan, what they would not condone, is an outcast, marrying...