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Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne (b. 1983) Awo, 2017
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Details
Signed and dated ’17’ (lower right); titled ‘AWO’, dated 2017, inscribed with the dimensions and signed on the reverse.
Sizes:
Artwork: 121 × 96.5 cm | 47.6 × 38 in
A woman stands in profile with a hand raised to her head, her whole body cut from African wax-print cottons: a green and blue floral headwrap, a striped sleeve, a blouse of orange paisley with yellow combs and a skirt of rust-red leaves, each piece stitched to the canvas so that the seams show. Behind her a lattice of pale blue and turquoise diamonds is filled with rings, rosettes and dots cut from the same printed cloths. ‘Awo’ is the title the artist wrote on the back: in Ga, the language of Accra, it is the word for mother, or for an older woman addressed with respect.
Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne (born 1983 in Accra) builds his portraits from the printed fabrics of the Ghanaian market, the wax prints whose patterns carry names, proverbs and Adinkra symbols, stitching and painting them onto canvas; the figure is anonymous, the cloth tells her story. Made in 2017, the year after the artist’s first European shows, the work is unframed and unstretched on its stitched canvas, as he exhibits them.
Provenance
Bonhams, London, Modern & Contemporary African Art (online), 30 June – 14 July 2026, lot 39.
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner.
Condition Report
Fabric collage, stitched and painted, on raw canvas. The work is stable; the canvas shows the creases and marks of the artist’s process and a few small stains on the reverse, where the title is written; the stitching and the fabric pieces are secure. Unframed. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report.
Shipping
Packed as size — · 121 × 96.5 cm
One side of this work is over 100 cm, so the packing and transport are quoted individually. and we will answer within two working days.
We coordinate packing and shipping on your behalf, with insurance available if you’d like it — or you’re welcome to arrange your own. Please see our Shipping Information page for full details before completing your purchase.
Authenticity & Buyer Information
This lot is catalogued under the artist’s name without qualification. Provenance, dating and condition are described to the best of our knowledge; the sale is governed by our Conditions of Sale.
Buyers should review the catalogue carefully and raise any questions before bidding; additional information is not ordinarily provided after the auction.
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What it costs
Bidding on this site, the buyer’s premium is 25%, Spanish IVA included. There is no VAT on the hammer price and no card fee.
| Starting price | Low estimate | High estimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hammer price | €1,000 | €1,500 | €2,000 |
| Buyer’s premium 25% (IVA included) | €250 | €375 | €500 |
| Total on auroraathena.com | €1,250 | €1,875 | €2,500 |
| Total through a bidding platform (30%) | €1,300 | €1,950 | €2,600 |
Through LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Drouot or Bidspirit the premium is 30%: the same hammer of €2,000 costs €2,600 there against €2,500 here. Shipping and insurance are quoted separately; the estimator below gives the figure for your country. Buyers outside the EU pay no Spanish tax on the lot; the destination’s import rules apply (United States: original paintings and drawings enter duty-free; United Kingdom: 5% import VAT on art). Card payments are accepted up to €10,000; larger amounts by bank transfer.
Questions about this lot
How does the estimate compare with the artist’s recent auction results?
The estimate of €1,500–€2,000 is our opinion of the range this work should reach; the starting price of €1,000 is the lowest bid we accept. We have not published comparable results for this lot; ask us before the sale and we will send the results we based the estimate on.
What will this lot cost in total?
Bidding on this site, the buyer’s premium is 25%, Spanish IVA included, and there is no VAT on the hammer price and no card fee: at the starting price of €1,000 the total is €1,250; at the low estimate of €1,500 the total is €1,875; at the high estimate of €2,000 the total is €2,500.
Through LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Drouot or Bidspirit the premium is 30%, so the same hammer of €2,000 costs €2,600 there. Shipping and insurance are quoted separately; the estimator on this page gives the figure for your country. Buyers outside the EU pay no Spanish tax on the lot; the destination’s import rules apply (United States: original paintings and drawings enter duty-free; United Kingdom: 5% import VAT on art). Card payments are accepted up to €10,000; larger amounts by bank transfer.
How is this lot catalogued?
Under the artist’s name without qualification. Provenance, dating, condition and value are described to the best of our knowledge; the sale is governed by the Conditions of Sale.
Can I see the condition report, more photographs or the work itself?
A condition report with ultraviolet photographs is prepared on request, normally within two working days; the condition summary on this page is examined in-house and is not a conservator’s report. Further photographs of any detail, the reverse or the frame are sent on request. The work can be examined in our Barcelona showroom by appointment before the sale, and you are welcome to send your own conservator or specialist.
How does bidding work, and can a maximum bid make me overpay?
You can leave a maximum bid before the sale (the sale is on Saturday, November 28th - 17:00 (CET)) or bid live in our online room. A maximum bid is executed by the auctioneer only as much as is needed to stay ahead of other bidders, in the sale’s increments, never above your maximum.
Where a reserve exists it never exceeds the low estimate; a lot without a reserve sells to the highest bid at or above the starting price of €1,000.
Is there a limit on how much I can bid?
Every account is approved for bidding as soon as the e-mail address is confirmed, with a limit of €5,000 per bid until the identity is verified. The limit applies everywhere: in the live room, on the lot page and to maximum bids. To bid without a limit, verify your identity in your account on this site: it takes about three minutes on a phone, is done once, and the limit is lifted automatically as soon as the check is complete. Please do it at least an hour before the sale.
Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne
Raphael Adjetey Adjei Mayne was born in Accra in 1983 and trained at the Ghanatta College of Art and Design. He paints and stitches: his portraits of men, women and children, often anonymous and seen in profile or from behind, are built from the printed cotton wax fabrics of the Ghanaian market, cut and sewn onto raw canvas and completed in paint, so that the patterns of the cloth, which in Ghana carry names, proverbs and the symbols of the Adinkra language, tell the story the faces withhold.
He has lived in Germany since 2013, working in Cologne and Düren, and showed with GNYP Gallery in Berlin (‘Assuming you look like me’, 2021), ARTCO in Aachen and at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York.
His work is in the collection of the MuCEM in Marseille and the Harvard University collections in Boston, among others, and has been widely exhibited in Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States.
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