Buy With Your Eyes

Nigerian modernism now sells at serious prices. Bonhams’ Giles Peppiatt on what changed and how to collect it well. Giles Peppiatt, Group Head, Fine Art (UK), Bonhams Fifteen years ago, a good Ben Enwonwu could be had at auction in London for £10,000 to £20,000, less than a mid-range saloon car, and only a small circle of specialists was paying attention. Comparable works now fetch up to £100,000. Much of the money comes from Nigeria and its diaspora, where a Grillo or an Enwonwu on the wall says as much as the address of the house. This month’s Modern & Contemporary African Art sale at Bonhams in London is the house’s strongest in years. It runs to about 150 lots, roughly a third larger than usual, and is anchored by a private Nigerian collection. We asked the man who built the department what has changed, and what a newcomer should know before raising a paddle. What has surprised you most since you started holding these sales? How much more modern African art is worth, Nigerian art in particular. We were selling Enwonwus 15 years ago for £10,000 or £20,000. Similar works now fetch up to £100,000. The market has improved enormously. Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu M.B.E (Nigerian, 1917-1994) Anyanwu Photo: Binham What motivates Nigerian collectors? Collecting has become a thing for wealthy Nigerians. There’s enormous cultural kudos in having fine works of art in your home, and people like that very much. There’s also the investment angle, and the past 15 years have shown what a good investment modern Nigerian art can be. Access has helped too. Twenty years ago it was difficult to find out what was going on. Now you can register and bid online, so the barrier to entry has dropped. And Art X Lagos has germinated real interest among people who wouldn’t have been involved in that sphere a decade ago. Who’s bidding against them? The market has spread out. Nigerians buy the Nigerian works and South Africans the South African works, but the US is now huge. American museums didn’t buy modern African art for a long time, probably erroneously, and they’re actively trying to right that wrong. We’ll also have bidders from Hong Kong and all sorts of places. Nigeria is st…