Ending 7th Jun, 2026 16:00
Olympia Timed: Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art 2026
314
BRUCE ONOBRAKPEYA (NIGERIAN B.1932)
MAMIWATA IV (MINIATURE)
inscribed 3/45 / Mamiwata IV (miniature) / Plastograph / Bruce Onobrakpeya / Lagos 1986 lower margin
plastograph on paper
21.7 x 17cm; 10 5/8 x 6 3/4in
42.9 x 30.6cm; 16 7/8 x 12in (framed)
Property of a Lady, London
Provenance
Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland
Gifted from the above to the current owner's father
Thence by descent to the present owner
Bruce Onobrakpeya is widely regarded as one of the foremost figures in modern Nigerian art and among Africa's most inventive printmakers. Born in 1932 in Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, he trained at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria, where he was a founding member of the influential Zaria Art Society, a cohort of young artists committed to forging a distinctively Nigerian aesthetic that synthesised indigenous visual traditions with international modernism. A recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), he established his celebrated annual Harmattan Workshop in Nigeria in 1998, shaping generations of Nigerian artists through a programme of creative and scholarly exchange.
The additive plastograph, the technique in which the present work is made, is among Onobrakpeya's most significant technical inventions, involving the building up of a textured relief surface on plastic using adhesives and found materials, producing prints of rich tactile depth that recall the patina of Benin bronzes and the markings of traditional woodcarving. Titled Ogbesia meaning minstrel or praise-singer, the work highlights Onobrakpeya's sustained engagement with Niger Delta cultural traditions: the minstrel as keeper of communal memory, mediator between the living and the ancestral.
Sold for £600
MAMIWATA IV (MINIATURE)
inscribed 3/45 / Mamiwata IV (miniature) / Plastograph / Bruce Onobrakpeya / Lagos 1986 lower margin
plastograph on paper
21.7 x 17cm; 10 5/8 x 6 3/4in
42.9 x 30.6cm; 16 7/8 x 12in (framed)
Property of a Lady, London
Provenance
Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland
Gifted from the above to the current owner's father
Thence by descent to the present owner
Bruce Onobrakpeya is widely regarded as one of the foremost figures in modern Nigerian art and among Africa's most inventive printmakers. Born in 1932 in Agbarha-Otor, Delta State, he trained at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology in Zaria, where he was a founding member of the influential Zaria Art Society, a cohort of young artists committed to forging a distinctively Nigerian aesthetic that synthesised indigenous visual traditions with international modernism. A recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), he established his celebrated annual Harmattan Workshop in Nigeria in 1998, shaping generations of Nigerian artists through a programme of creative and scholarly exchange.
The additive plastograph, the technique in which the present work is made, is among Onobrakpeya's most significant technical inventions, involving the building up of a textured relief surface on plastic using adhesives and found materials, producing prints of rich tactile depth that recall the patina of Benin bronzes and the markings of traditional woodcarving. Titled Ogbesia meaning minstrel or praise-singer, the work highlights Onobrakpeya's sustained engagement with Niger Delta cultural traditions: the minstrel as keeper of communal memory, mediator between the living and the ancestral.
Auction: Olympia Timed: Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art 2026, ending 7th Jun, 2026
If you want to start collecting striking modern and contemporary art in a newly developing market, our sales are for you. Each spring and autumn, the Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Department hold tightly curated, live and online auctions. Expect to find Arab artists such as Rabab Nemr, Ahmed Farid, Seif Wanly and Fateh Moudarres. African artists featured have ranged from modern masters such as Ablade Glover, Sam Ntiro and Jacob Hendrik Pierneef, to contemporary artists George Lilanga, Jilali Gharbaoui, Famakan Magassa, Christano Mangovo, Oluwole Omofemi, Esther Mahlangu and Brett Seiler.
