April 21, 2021
Restitution and the Art Industry
Chika Okeke-Agulu
Professor of African and African Diaspora Art, Princeton University
Minutes of the 29th Meeting of the 79th Year
President Stephen Schreiber opened the meeting at 10:15 AM. Larry Hans read the minutes of the prior meeting. The guests included Howard Bell, guest of George Bustin; Judy Funches, guest of Christine Danser; Judith Brodsky, guest of Ferris Olin; and Marita Engshuber, Wendel Lim, Adria Sherman, Harriet Teweles, Elaine Jacoby, and Earlene Baumunk Cancilla, guests of Marge D’Amico; and Madelaine Shellaby, guest of Marsha Levin-Rojer. Three candidates were proposed for membership: Maryann Belanger, proposed by Marge D'Amico; Lloyd Gardner, proposed by Larry Parsons; and Richard Trenner, proposed by Michael Mathews. There were 115 viewers in attendance.
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu of African and African Diaspora Art and described his career as Princeton professor, author of numerous books and articles, artist, curator, and activist for the return of art treasures to the African nations from which they were stolen in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Professor Okeke-Agulu began his talk by showing an architectural drawing of the new Edo Museum of African Art, to be built on the site of the old royal palace in Benin. The old palace, which was burned and looted by English troops in 1896, contained a stunning collection of precious ivory figurines. When the English conquered Benin, 200 English marines stole and then sold all the figurines. Since then, they appeared in the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum.
The Benin Museum of African Art was designed by the Ghanaian-British architect, David Adjaye, widely known for his National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington DC. Construction in Benin will begin after a five-year archaeology project takes place. Adjaye is also the architect for the new Princeton University Art Museum, currently being built on the campus. Now the challenge for Benin is to try to recover its art treasures from western museums and collectors. A shocking 95 percent of the country’s greatest art is currently in foreign collections. The people of Benin want some of it back.
Making copies of art masterpieces and filling the museums with them has been tried for years in Africa, but those are not adequate substitutes for original art. Demands for restitution are growing. This can be seen in many African nations as well as in Mediterranean states. We all know of the continuing pressure on Great Britain to send back the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles from the British Museum to their original home in Athens.
During the question-and-answer period, President Schreiber asked Professor Okeke-Agulu how he became interested in restitution. He responded by explaining that he was born in 1966 in the Igbo area of south-eastern Nigeria, an area that fought to become the independent nation of Biafra. Nigeria never accepted the separation; Biafra was defeated and was forced under Nigerian control again. During the two-and-a-half-year war, two million Biafran people died; 75 percent of them were small children who died of starvation, caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian forces. When he was a very young child, Professor Okeke-Agulu’s mother often warned him about the terrible attacks and deaths that were happening in the streets, and that memory made a deep impression on him.
Professor Okeke-Agulu emphasized that active protest against the looting of art is growing, and there is some progress. Germany promised it will return the famous Benin bronzes. President Emmanuel Macron of France declared in 2018 that the African nations are no longer prisoners of Europe, and looting of African art should be outlawed. However, American institutions have so far largely avoided any similar commitments.
Professor Okeke-Agulu concluded his talk with a warning that all nations must participate in a contract that makes looting and stealing of art treasures from other nations illegal.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Florey
George Bustin introduced the speaker, Professor Chika Okeke-Agulu of African and African Diaspora Art and described his career as Princeton professor, author of numerous books and articles, artist, curator, and activist for the return of art treasures to the African nations from which they were stolen in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Professor Okeke-Agulu began his talk by showing an architectural drawing of the new Edo Museum of African Art, to be built on the site of the old royal palace in Benin. The old palace, which was burned and looted by English troops in 1896, contained a stunning collection of precious ivory figurines. When the English conquered Benin, 200 English marines stole and then sold all the figurines. Since then, they appeared in the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Philadelphia Museum.
The Benin Museum of African Art was designed by the Ghanaian-British architect, David Adjaye, widely known for his National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington DC. Construction in Benin will begin after a five-year archaeology project takes place. Adjaye is also the architect for the new Princeton University Art Museum, currently being built on the campus. Now the challenge for Benin is to try to recover its art treasures from western museums and collectors. A shocking 95 percent of the country’s greatest art is currently in foreign collections. The people of Benin want some of it back.
Making copies of art masterpieces and filling the museums with them has been tried for years in Africa, but those are not adequate substitutes for original art. Demands for restitution are growing. This can be seen in many African nations as well as in Mediterranean states. We all know of the continuing pressure on Great Britain to send back the Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles from the British Museum to their original home in Athens.
During the question-and-answer period, President Schreiber asked Professor Okeke-Agulu how he became interested in restitution. He responded by explaining that he was born in 1966 in the Igbo area of south-eastern Nigeria, an area that fought to become the independent nation of Biafra. Nigeria never accepted the separation; Biafra was defeated and was forced under Nigerian control again. During the two-and-a-half-year war, two million Biafran people died; 75 percent of them were small children who died of starvation, caused by the total blockade of the region by the Nigerian forces. When he was a very young child, Professor Okeke-Agulu’s mother often warned him about the terrible attacks and deaths that were happening in the streets, and that memory made a deep impression on him.
Professor Okeke-Agulu emphasized that active protest against the looting of art is growing, and there is some progress. Germany promised it will return the famous Benin bronzes. President Emmanuel Macron of France declared in 2018 that the African nations are no longer prisoners of Europe, and looting of African art should be outlawed. However, American institutions have so far largely avoided any similar commitments.
Professor Okeke-Agulu concluded his talk with a warning that all nations must participate in a contract that makes looting and stealing of art treasures from other nations illegal.
Respectfully submitted,
Ann Florey