Since 1950, Enwonwu was celebrated as "Africa's Greatest Artist" by the international media[2] and his fame was used to enlist support for Black Nationalists movement all over the world.

[3] Ben Enwonwu was born a twin on 14 July 1917 into the noble family of Umueze-Aroli in Onitsha, Anambra State, southeastern region of Nigeria.

He was also a member of the Onitsha Council of Chiefs and a traditional sculptor of repute, who created staffs of office, stools, decorative doors and religious images.

In 1947, he received a first-class diploma in fine art from the Slade and registered for postgraduate work in anthropology (with a focus on West African ethnography) at the University of London.

Anthropology offered a space for the scientific study of the races, their physical and mental characteristics, customs, and social relationships.

In 1937, Murray exhibited Enwonwu's work at the Zwemmer Gallery in London[6][8] In 1969, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State, north-western region of Nigeria.

The President of Nigeria, Shehu Shagari, presented a small sculpture of Enwonwu's Anywanu, a representation of the Igbo earth goddess Ani, to Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on the occasion of his state visit to the United Kingdom in 1981.

Sylvester Ogbechie contends that Enwonwu's legacy lies in his role in shaping Nigeria's emerging national identity during the late 1940s and 1950s.

[15] The portrait of Tutu, one of the three made by the painter, is a Nigerian national icon and considered a reconciliation symbol between the government and Biafran separatists after the civil war.

The painting's owner had known Enwonwu, and described him as a lovely man always with a flower in his lapel and some of his work can be found in the Kakofoni Group Gallery.