N one of his essays American author 
James Baldwin summarized his life ambition 
in these words: to be a good writer 
and an honest man. If ever a man lived up 
to that ambition, that man was the artist 
Uzo Egonu, who died in his London home 
last month at age 64. Egonu was not only 
one of the finest painters and printmakers 
of his generation, he was also the epitome 
Olu 
Oguibe 
of simplicity, decency, and kindness, a 
thorough gentleman of the old school. 
In a forty-five year career that knew 
many heights and lows, and through 
nearly twenty years of ill-health, his 
strength of spirit, his mild humour, his 
gentleness and optimism held to the 
last. 
Gentlema 
Born in Onitsha on Christmas day, 193 1 to a 
government functionary who had trained at the reputed 
Fourah Bay College, Freetown, Egonu went to 
England at the end of the war in 1 945 to study art. 
He was 13. After high school in Little Snoring, 
Norfolk, he moved to London and enrolled at the 
Camberwell School of Art and Design where he 
studied painting and typography under L. J. Daniels 
and Sir Gilbert Spencer. After graduation in 1951 he 
travelled in Europe studying the masters as well as 
collections of classical African art. Shortly after graduation 
he had been taken to the studio of the renowned 
sculptor, Sir Jacob Epstein, an encounter that would 
hold great meaning for him as an artist. In 1953 he 
settled in Paris painting watercolours for a living while 
continuing his private studies of great collections. In 
the years that followed he would travel through 
Denmark and Finland, also, as well as Italy, before 
returning to London to set up studio in 1959. 
The early 1960s were crucial for Egonu's 
career as he tried to define a particular language for 
himself, a language that drew upon his childhood in 
N 
the royal city of OrVitsha where he was born, his 
encounters with masterpieces of African art in Europe, 
and his studies of the great European masters. 
For a while his work shared the texturality of the work 
of the Kitchen Sink school, yet departed from the 
social realism that defined the aesthetic of that group. 
Instead he was inclined towards genre and nostalgic 
imagery. In 1963 he joined the Free Painters and 
Sculptors Group, to which he belonged till 1 968. As 
his work progressed another influence would bene 
evident, namely the growing dominance of the 
nalist school in African art scholarship. Egonu 
ertooka study of the ancient terra-cotta traditions 
ortne Nok culture of West Africa, on which he wrote 
an unpublished treatise, and his discovery of what he 
considered the formalist proclivities of the ancient 
sculptors of Nok influenced his own dedication to 
form. In his words this discovery was his bridge to a 
new aesthetic away from the academicism of 
Camberwell. 
In the late Sixties, however, a crucial historical 
moment would make great demands on his art and 
ultimately consolidate his election of an aesthetic 
different from that which prevailed around him in 
London. The outbreak of war in Nigeria, which 
began with the massacre of several thousand Igbo 
people in other parts of the country, affected Egonu 
tremendously, Egonu had left the country before 
independence and the escalation of national differences, 
and the collapse of what to many had held the 
promise of becoming Africa's greatest nation was a 
tragedy too heavy to bear. Not only was his attachments 
to Britain, the country of his adulthood, shaken, 
the secession of the Igbo and the founding of the 
Republic of Biafra further tore at his sense of identity. 
But even more importantly, like the young intellectu- 
African Quarterly 
on the Arts 
Vol. II NO 4
Above: Uzo Egonu in 
his studio, 1964. 
Photo: Stewart Bale 
Right: Addiction One, 
1970 Lithograph 57 x 
79 cm. 
African Quarterly 
on thf Arts 
Vol. 11 NO 4
Above: Uzo and Hiltrud 
Egonu, 1971. 
Right: Uzo in Paris, 1955. 
Far right: Uzo Egonu with 
Mr Bottomley, Minister 
for Overseas 
Development, and Mrs 
Bottomley at Upper 
Grosvenor Galleries 
during Egonu's oneperson 
show, 1966. 
gonu 
undertook a 
study of the 
.indent 
terra-cotta 
traditions of 
the Nok culture 
of West 
Africa, on 
which he 
wrote an unpublished 
treatise, and 
his discosvery 
of what 
he considered 
the 
formalist 
proclivities 
of the 
ancient 
sculptors of 
Nok influenced 
his own 
dedication 
to form. 
als of his homeland, Egonu dedicated himself and his 
art to bringing the human tragedy of Biafra to the 
attention of the world. With the encouragement of his 
patron, the Duchess of St. Albans, Egonu lent support 
to the humanitarian activities in Biafra. It is the belief 
of many also, that the agony of Nigeria's descent into 
chaos took a great emotional toll on him and ultimately 
ruined his health. 
During theearly 1 970s Egonu'scareer reached 
a peak as he won medals and prizes in international 
competitions across Europe. He also ventured into 
printmaking, in which medium he would eventually 
create some of his most memorable works. In the late 
Seventies his exposure to acid fumes in his printmaking 
studio resulted in partial loss of sight. There followed 
a period during which he painted in his North London 
studio without sight. The work he produced during this 
period, the critic George Whittet would later describe 
as on a level rarely met in contemporary European 
styles since the death of Paul Klee. In 1983 he was 
named to the International Association of Art as a life 
counsellor, an honour he shared with such noted 
figures of 20th century art as Henry Moore, Joan Miro, 
and Louise Nevelson. 
Egonu's recovery from his sightimpairmentwas 
followed rather quickly by a heart failure in 1 985, and 
yet another in 1 986, after which he was 
given less than a year to live. He lived 
another ten years during which he worked 
ceaselessly, travelled when he could, 
and continued to exhibit both in Britain 
and abroad. 
Egonu's work is marked by a combination 
of powerful lyricism and a 
concern for human preoccupations 
Whether it was the demise of nation 
states and the prevalence of war, or the 
difficulties and foibles of exiles and the 
stateless, Egonu brought to his subjects 
understanding and compassion that imbued 
his works with the inescapable 
mark of deep philosophical contemplation. As a 
man, he was reserved, yet cheerful and receptive, 
and many will remember him not only for the power 
of his art, but also for his warmth. 
In a moving obituary posted on the African art 
newsgroup server in the United States, Professor 
Dele Jegede of Indiana University described Egonu 
as personifying class, elegance and humility not 
only in his art but also in his lifestyle. 'The last time 
that I spoke with him , wrote Dele Jegede, was alsoalas! 
-the first... in Germany in the winter of 1 989. 
I was astonished at the modesty and humility of a 
man who has been preceded very prominently by 
his name and art; a man whom we - my generation 
in Nigeria-grew up to acclaim and identify with. For 
us, he stood tall and mighty, like the IROKO tree in 
the forest. He epitomized the height that we aspired 
to attain.' 
Egonu was a titled man in Onitsha, and is 
survived by Hiltrud, his life-long companion and wife 
of twenty-five years. His funeral in London was 
attended by friends, some of whom knew him only 
briefly, but all of whom echo Professor Jegede's 
statement that we owe a debt of gratitude to him for 
the way he has touched our lives.GR 
African Quarterly 
on the A rts 
Vol. II NO -t