Art from university collection on loan to Tate Modern for latest exhibition

Art from the University of Chichester’s Bishop Otter Art Collection has gone on show at the Tate Modern in London, as part of their latest exhibition on Nigerian Modernism. The University has loaned ‘Monotony’, a large painting by pioneering Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu, to the London art gallery for the next year.

‘Monotony’ is a work showing 3 figures in landscape and is worked in four colours; blue, yellow, ochre and grey painted on oil on board (unglazed).  The work is signed and dated 1948.  Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) was a well-known Nigerian artist and a pioneer in African modernist painting.  He studied at the Slade School of Art in London (1945-47), under artist Randolph Schwabe.

The painting was gifted to the Bishop Otter Art Collection in 1977 by former Principal of Bishop Otter College, Miss K. M. E. ‘Betty’ Murray (1948-1970). Prior to attending the Slade, Ben Enwonwu attended two Government Colleges in Nigeria where he had been taught by Kenneth Murray, Miss Murray’s brother.

Professor Symeon Dagkas, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chichester, attended the private view of the exhibition at the Tate Modern on Tuesday 7 October. He said: “It’s a great privilege to loan this significant painting by Ben Enwonwu to the Tate Modern for the Nigerian Modernism exhibition. The University of Chichester Art Collection, of which the Bishop Otter Collection is a part, holds a number of important artworks and we are delighted to share ‘Monotony’ with the Tate Modern’s audience.”

Details of the Nigerian Modernism exhibition, which runs from 8 October 2025 – 10 May 2026, are available at www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/nigerian-modernism