A Benin Bronze from the Ethnological Museum, Germany. |
Whatever the good
intention of Germany's newly announced funding of provenance for its
non-European art collection, silence on restitution is not golden.
A statement
credited to German Lost Art Foundation said it will oversee government grants
to museums for provenance research into artefacts
acquired from former colonies. Germany's culture minister Monika Grütters, according to reports monitored on the international art scene, assured that the new policy will “secure the financial basis for this research in the long term and to motivate museums to use these research opportunities and develop new forms of cooperation with the countries of origin”.
acquired from former colonies. Germany's culture minister Monika Grütters, according to reports monitored on the international art scene, assured that the new policy will “secure the financial basis for this research in the long term and to motivate museums to use these research opportunities and develop new forms of cooperation with the countries of origin”.
Germany's
ethnological collection houses quite a volume of artefacts looted - not
acquired - from Africa. Among such artefacts are Benin bronzes currently
housed in Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe collection.
While the minister
said the Foundation, which also looks into Nazi-loot, will allocate the
government grants, she has pledged government money for six new positions at
the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. The Prussian oversees Berlin’s state
museums.
However, another
German institution has been quoted of assurance to return looted artefacts of
European origins. President of Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation,
Hermann Parzinger, according to agency reports said he would support
guidelines on Nazi-looted art. “We will return stolen objects,” The Art
Newspaper quoted him from an interview with the weekly newspaper Die Zeit.
"Other artefacts", he said, can be loaned for temporary or travelling
exhibitions.
From a covert
strategy, Germany appears to have designed a provenance funding as a
distraction from the real issue of restitution. Clearly, "other
artefacts" expression of Parzinger suggests those looted from Africa. But
when he said
"We will return
stolen objects", he obviuosly meant European artefacts looted by the Nazi
during WW2.
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You are right. All this is sheer distraction from restitution. They will take hundred years to do provenance research on artefacts that hjave well-known provenance-the Benin artefacts all came from the 1897 loot. What else do they need to know before they return the artefacts to the Oba of Benin and his people? And waht is the NCMM doing on this?
ReplyDeleteOur continent is clearly not blessed with energetic leadership.
Kwame Opoku