Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu was born a twin on July 14, 1917, in Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria. His father, a reputable traditional sculptor, and his mother, a successful cloth merchant, provided the foundation for his artistic journey. After early education at Saint Mary's School, Onitsha, Enwonwu attended Government College, Ibadan, where Kenneth C. Murray nurtured his artistic genius.

In 1944, Enwonwu received a Shell Petroleum scholarship to study in the United Kingdom, enrolling at Goldsmith College of Art and later Ruskin and Slade Ashmolean, Oxford, where he graduated with first-class honors in sculpture. He furthered his studies at University College London and the London School of Economics, completing postgraduate work in social anthropology.

Enwonwu's international acclaim grew rapidly. He represented Africa at the 1946 International Exhibition of Modern Art in Paris and was elected Fellow of the Royal Anthropology Institute in 1947. In 1954, he was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE), and in 1956, became the first African to sculpt a bronze portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

His monumental works include Anyanwu at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Sango at PHCN headquarters in Lagos, and The Drummer at NITEL headquarters. Enwonwu became Nigeria's first art professor at the University of Ife in 1971 and received the Nigeria National Merit Award in 1980. He died on February 5, 1994, at age 77, leaving an enduring legacy in African modernism.