“Artists do not live on funerals and because they enrich the world with their art, they should be projected. So it is fair that those who take in their work pay them a share of what they earn,” says Senegalese sculptor, Ousmane Sow. This position formed the thrust of discussions at the Ben Enwonwu Foundation Talk Series on artists resale rights in Nigeria held in Lagos. It featured leading stakeholders in the visual art sub-sector, Omolola Afolabi reports.
Director-General, Nigerian Copyrights Commission, John Asein, has promised to take actions aimed at ratifying the copyrights provision of the artists resale rights in Nigeria.
Asein, who spoke at the maiden edition of Ben Enwonwu talk series at Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi, Lagos, made the pledge in reaction to Prof Bruce Onobrakpeya’s appeal to the commission to fast-track the approval of the provision of section 13 of the Copyright Law, which seeks to allow artists benefit from secondary and downstream sales of their works.
Reassuring the artists, the DG said: “We already have enough concerns with piracy in books and music. I never expected to see this in artworks. Strident measures will therefore be taken against such subsequently.”
Asein, while enlightening the audience on the point of convergence between the Berne Convention and the Nigerian Copyrights Act, said Nigeria is a member of the Berne convention concluded in 1836, and that section 14 of Nigerian Copyrights Commission act sets minimum standard for artists’ resale rights in Nigeria. “We are, therefore, Berne compliant in terms of our copyright legislation,” he noted.
Article 14 of Berne Convention sets minimum international copyrights standards, which is optional for only about 80 countries. Asein noted that as far as Nigeria is concerned, there is a provision that makes it mandatory for the artist to enjoy some recompense whenever his work is sold at an auction. He, however, added that for author, when a manuscript is sold, he also gets some compensation.
Executive Director, Ben Enwonwu Foundation, and President, Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) Mr. Oliver Enwonwu, who was keynote speaker at the talk, said it is important to give credence and support to the artist who creates the works, which are exclusive to him alone. Decrying the poor remuneration and funding given to artistes, especially visual artists, he cited the record sale of his late father’s master piece Tutu for 1.2million pounds, which he said, neither him nor his siblings got a dime in return. This, he said, is one of the reasons why ‘I’m quite agitated.’
Enwonwu, who is also Founder, Omenka Art Gallery, Lagos continued: “There is no evidence that the artists resale right has a negative impact on British art market, which is the largest in the world. If musicians, writers and other creatives can benefit from this property rights, why not visual artists?”
In her reaction, Prof Ebun Clark, an academic and wife of distinguished writer and scholar, Prof. J P Clark, gave a dissenting opinion saying “I am not against resale rights but please do not compare it with literature. The author doesn’t take financial risk. The publisher does and he prints multiple copies and pays the writer royalty, whereas, the artist takes the financial risk of buying canvass, art materials and go out to sell. Sometimes, you have to market yourself. So, it’s not the same market the writer shares with the artist. And when it comes to Nigeria, the writer doesn’t get royalty until after about three years. And they have limitations like pirates and all sorts. You can have your resale rights but please do not compare that with other literary or artistic genres.”
Clark added: “I will implore you to also have some pity on the collectors who must have taken some financial risks. Again, you focused on only Britain, but America still has reservations for enforcing the resale rights because they think it might affect the art market. I am for resale rights but I’m just trying to tell you to be wary of comparisons”.
Enwonwu responded by clarifying that the reason for the comparison is the fact that both categories are intellectual properties. On the US art market, he said: “I know that the US does not have that legislation but the UK market is there, which I pointed out earlier that is the second largest in the world. I also brought in Africa that if it is not paying on our continent, perhaps we should also look into it”.
Speaking on global market for Nigerian art, Neil Coventry, representative of Bonhams, a leading international auction house for African art, gave a historical overview of the Nigerian art market, describing the late Ben Enwonwu, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Yemisi Shyllon and Njideka Akunyili Crosby among leading lights in the art. According to him, Nigerian artists have all been exhibiting on a global scale since the 1960’s till date, noting that what is new is the scale and interest globally. He also shared a numerical illustration on how the Nigerian art market has evolved tremendously over decades and how interests have begun to increase in the auction houses globally.
However, Coventry expressed deep concerns about the under-representation of African art in the global market, noting that ‘auction houses contribute a lot to the art market and need to do more, otherwise the market might shut down.’ He identified publishing, research and cataloguing as some of the measures that have been taken to document, thereby enhancing interest in the art market.
On counterfeiting and forgery in the art market in Nigeria, he presented some shocking images of counterfeited works by prominent Nigerian artists. He revealed that the images showed that pirates do not only stop at forging art works, they also go as far as duplicating the artist’s signature with impunity.
Commenting on the consequences of this, Coventry said art market gets saturated while interest diminishes, adding that there is too much to lose, not just in monetary value but also in culture, heritage and national pride.
“When looking at the pitfalls of contemporary African art, Africans have been given the right to write their own story, it used to be that the West told Africa’s story on their behalf. Now, we should tell our own story and all we do is copy one another,” he added, noting that for us to grow the Nigerian market globally, we must do our bit locally.
Intellectual Property lawyer, Ngozi Aderibigbe, lent her voice on the Berne Convention that seeks to unify copyright laws across member states. She noted that one of its key principles is the ‘national treatment,’ which stipulates that member states are enjoined to give the same treatment to foreign works as they would to their own nationals. She added that the law does make an exception in the case of artist’s resale rights, which makes its implementation optional. This, she said, means a member state is not obligated to extend the same benefit to the artiste unless the home country also provides that advantage. “The implementation of this law becomes tricky, however, because you can’t always track the sale of an original work in a global market,” she said.
National Gallery of Art Acting Director-General Dr. Simon Ikpakronyi, who was represented by Mr. Ajene Isegbe, said the law that established the National Gallery of Art (NGA) as amended in 2003, has provisions to protect the interest of the artists, but that until this moment, the bill still awaits assent. “If the bill is not implemented, there are several capacities in which the NGA cannot operate,” he added. Legal practitioner and art consultant, Mr. Seun Alli, moderated the panel discussion.
The Ben Enwonwu Foundation, established 2003 was founded in honour of the late Prof Benedict Enwonwu, a foremost Nigerian artist who was named by Times Magazine in 1950 as Africa’s most influential artist of the 20th century due to his unparalleled contributions to the visual arts industry in Nigeria and the rest of the world. One of his most notable works is a bronze of the sitting Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth (II) and the Anyanwu or the awakening, which currently stands at the United Nations Headquarters in the United States.
Significantly, stakeholders resolved to draw up action plan for implementing artist’s resale right legislation in the country. Among guests that attended the event included Director, Modern & Contemporary African Art, Bonham’s, Mr. Giles Peppiatt, Chairman, Lagos State Council for Arts and Culture, Polly Alakija, Artistic Director, Lagos Biennial, Kunle Oshun, Director, Mydrim Gallery, Mrs. Sinmidele Adesanya, Prof. Frank Ugiomoh, Kolade Oshinowo, Olu Amoda, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Ndidi Dike, Olu Ajayi, Burns Effiom and Gbolahan Ayoola. Sponsors and partners of the event were Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), Leadway Assurance Company Limited, Zircon Marine Limited, Jackson Etti & Edu, The Sole Adventurer and Ono Bello.