Exhibitions featured in
Materials
oil on canvas
70 x 85.8cm; 27 1/2 x 33 3/4in
unframed
LOT 9 OLUWOLE OMOFEMI (NIGERIAN B.1988) EARLY LESSONS FOR TOMORROW III signed and dated Oluwole Omofemi / 16 lower right oil on canvas 70 x 85.8cm; 27 1/2 x 33 3/4in unframed
Estimate
£3,000 – £5,000
Buyer’s premium: 25.00% + VAT
This contemplative oil on canvas work represents Omofemi’s practice in a formative period immediately preceding the surge of international recognition that followed his 2020 London solo exhibition The Way We Are at Signature African Art, Mayfair. Rather than depicting a central figure, this work captures an intimate genre scene: two sisters sit together to read. The high colour contrast of the composition recalls the painterly innovations of Caravaggio, whilst the expressive brushwork demonstrates an affinity with the modernist tradition. The two works herein featured in this auction together offer a compelling opportunity to trace the development of one of the most sought-after figurative painters working in Nigeria today.
Oluwole Omofemi is one of the most immediately recognisable figurative painters of his generation. Born in Ibadan in 1988, Omofemi built a rapidly expanding international profile with exhibitions across the United Kingdom, Spain, Belgium, Italy, France, Ghana, and the United States. In 2022 he achieved international prominence as the first African artist commissioned to paint the reigning British monarch, producing a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II for Tatler magazine’s Platinum Jubilee edition, an image that brought his distinctive visual language to a global audience. In 2026, he was commissioned once again to depict HRH The Prince of Wales.
That language is immediately his own: figural compositions in which subjects are rendered with penetrating psychological intensity against atmospheric, gestural grounds, their identities inscribed with haloed Afros, close-cropped sakora cuts, and scarification marks – his visual lexicon for African femininity, heritage, and self-possession. Lots 8 and 9, produced by Omofemi in 2017 and 2016 respectively, reflect the earliest iterations of his practice. This abstracted portrait reveals the development of the artist’s distinctive style. Depicted with an expressive and colourful palette, Omofemi builds the figure from a series of impasto markings, following in a painterly tradition that invokes the work of West African luminaries like Ablade Glover (see lot 10).
