The Brutish Museums

The Brutish Museums
Author: Dan Hicks
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre: BUSINESS & ECONOMICS
ISBN: 9781786806833

Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objectsare all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of BeninCity, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.

Loot

Loot
Author: Barnaby Phillips
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 527
Release: 2021-04-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786079364

A Prospect Best Book of 2021 ‘A fascinating and timely book.’ William Boyd ‘Gripping…a must read.’ FT ‘Compelling…humane, reasonable, and ultimately optimistic.’ Evening Standard ‘[A] valuable guide to a complex narrative.’ The Times In 1897, Britain sent a punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin, in what is today Nigeria, in retaliation for the killing of seven British officials and traders. British soldiers and sailors captured Benin, exiled its king and annexed the territory. They also made off with some of Africa’s greatest works of art. The ‘Benin Bronzes’ are now amongst the most admired and valuable artworks in the world. But seeing them in the British Museum today is, in the words of one Benin City artist, like ‘visiting relatives behind bars’. In a time of huge controversy about the legacy of empire, racial justice and the future of museums, what does the future hold for the Bronzes?

Fifteen Colonial Thefts

Fifteen Colonial Thefts
Author: Sela Adjei
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-08-20
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780745349527

A timely and compelling contribution to the debate around the repatriation of looted African artifacts, illustrated by and contributed to by African artists and writers.

Ethnographic Collecting and African Agency in Early Colonial West Africa

Ethnographic Collecting and African Agency in Early Colonial West Africa
Author: Zachary Kingdon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2019-02-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1501337939

The early collections from Africa in Liverpool's World Museum reflect the city's longstanding shipping and commercial links with Africa's Atlantic coast. A principal component of these collections is an assemblage of several thousand artefacts from western Africa that were transported to institutions in northwest England between 1894 and 1916 by the Liverpool steam ship engineer Arnold Ridyard. While Ridyard's collecting efforts can be seen to have been shaped by the steamers' dynamic capacity to connect widely separated people and places, his Methodist credentials were fundamental in determining the profile of his African networks, because they meant that he was not part of official colonial authority in West Africa. Kingdon's study uncovers the identities of many of Ridyard's numerous West African collaborators and discusses their interests and predicaments under the colonial dispensation. Against this background account, their agendas are examined with reference to surviving narratives that accompanied their donations and within the context of broader processes of trans-imperial exchange, through which they forged new identities and statuses for themselves and attempted to counter expressions of British cultural imperialism in the region. The study concludes with a discussion of the competing meanings assigned to the Ridyard assemblage by the Liverpool Museum and examines the ways in which its re-contextualization in museum contexts helped to efface signs of the energies and narratives behind its creation.

Plundering Africa's Past

Plundering Africa's Past
Author: Peter Ridgway Schmidt
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 1996-08-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253210548

"An important book at a time when the booming illicit trade in African antiquities and the despoiling of some of the continent's prime archeological sites generate little concern in the art world." --Foreign Affairs "This benchmark publication challenges all of us to be part of the solution. Plundering Africa's Past cannot help but raise the level of discourse and consciousness about the looting problem, what needs to be done to stop it and about the relationship between Africa and the West." --African Studies Review "Plundering Africa's Past should be required reading for all archaeologists, historians, art historians, museum curators, and government officials involved in the cultural heritages of Africa, as well as most countries and continents with a disappearing past." --H-Net Book Review African government and museum officials, members of international agencies, academics, and journalists examine why the African past is disappearing at a rate perhaps unmatched in any other part of the world. Each looks at the international network of looting and trafficking from a different perspective. Here, for the first time, is a frank indictment of African contributions to the problem--voiced by the distinguished African essayists. The book concludes with a discussion of specific steps that could halt the disappearance of Africa's art and antiquities.

Art and Museum in Africa

Art and Museum in Africa
Author: Emery Effiboley
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2024-04-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9956554480

This book is a collection of essays on the history of museums and art in Africa. The publication addresses the decolonization of African museums before analysing forms and encounter, a major aspect in the African artistic creation. The issue of repatriation is also addressed not only in the complexity of the phenomenon but also as resulting to conflicting sovereignties in Africa. The collection in the end discusses the role of art in nation building in the context of Benin Republic and how museum cooperation could enhance the museum sector. “Working without seeking any recognition and at times under very challenging circumstances Effiboley’s excellent efforts in trying to address the subject of African art, museums and restitution in a realistic and holistic way, grounded in tradition has often been thwarted by some who would have been expected to advocate for similar views. This collection of works of over 20 years demonstrates a commitment to a cause and speaks for itself not only in terms of recognizing the place of African heritage or African Art but the need to decolonize the mind, the practice and the narratives. Persistent on this journey of questioning the abnormal made normal, this body of works stands out as a true example of a cause sincerely in need of addressing.” Professor George Abungu, Emeritus Director General of the National Museums of Kenya “Effiboley gives us a pivotal work at a vital moment when African voices will define the future of museums in Africa. His voice of deep scholarly experience guides us how to change the ways we think about art, museums and culture in Africa.” Michael Rowlands, Emeritus Professor, Department of Anthropology, University College London.

Africa’s Struggle for Its Art

Africa’s Struggle for Its Art
Author: Bénédicte Savoy
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2022-04-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0691234736

"A major new history of how, between 1965 and 1985, African nations sought the restitution of works of art stolen during the colonial period, written by the most important and influential figure in the field"--

African Art Reframed

African Art Reframed
Author: Bennetta Jules-Rosette
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 374
Release: 2020-06-22
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0252052153

Once seen as a collection of artifacts and ritual objects, African art now commands respect from museums and collectors. Bennetta Jules-Rosette and J.R. Osborn explore the reframing of African art through case studies of museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Africa. The authors take a three-pronged approach. Part One ranges from curiosity cabinets to virtual websites to offer a history of ethnographic and art museums and look at their organization and methods of reaching out to the public. In the second part, the authors examine museums as ecosystems and communities within communities, and they use semiotic methods to analyze images, signs, and symbols drawn from the experiences of curators and artists. The third part introduces innovative strategies for displaying, disseminating, and reclaiming African art. The authors also propose how to reinterpret the art inside and outside the museum and show ways of remixing the results. Drawing on extensive conversations with curators, collectors, and artists, African Art Reframed is an essential guide to building new exchanges and connections in the dynamic worlds of African and global art.

Art and Cultural Heritage

Art and Cultural Heritage
Author: Barbara T. Hoffman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 608
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9780521857642

This volume contains relevant and pressing issues in the law, policy, and the practice of art and cultural heritage protection.