Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

is hardly any art that is approached
“There
Europeans with so much distrust as
by
of Africa. They are disinclined to
that
it as art and regard the contrast
recognize
its products and the accustomed
between
concepts with a contempt and
continental
that have actually created a special
scorn
of rebuttal.” (Einstein quoted
terminology
is quite easy to imagine the cognitive
It
of European admirers of the Benin
dissonance
Konde offers two anecdotes as to
Bronzes.
this dissonance was overcome. Initially
how
British soldiers, upon looting the bronzes
the
realizing their merit, “concocted the tale
and
the sculptures they had stolen must have
that
made by the Portuguese, the Egyptians,
been
the lost tribes of Israel” (Konde 2014). The
or
brought on by the First World War,
changes
are hundreds of thousands of works
There
art such as the Benin Bronzes still held in
of
collections around the world, and
colonial-era
repatriation back to their “homeland” is
their
issue that has gathered momentum over the
an
five decades, with the independence of
past
formerly colonized nations. Apart from a
many
instances, particularly from museums based
few
the United States, this has not yet happened
in
any meaningful scale. One reason appears
on
practical—up to 85–90% of “classical
entirely
certain other types of artifacts on the
and
do not have a documented provenance”
market
2013)—but museums and trustees
(Franzen
have a conflict of interest to investigate the
may
of works already in their collection.
provenance
if the provenance can be traced, it may
Even
be traceable to a contemporary national or
not
Davis, a lawyer with the Antiquities
Tess
praised the Cleveland Museum of
Coalition,
for voluntarily returning the Hanuman
Art
but argued that it should never have been
statue,
reassessment of African art. By 1926, the
a
Ernst Vatter would write: “…
ethnologist
art as well as the hitherto similarly
primitive
prehistoric and medieval European
neglected
constitute nowadays an integral part of
art
as a whole” (Vatter 1926). Note his use
art
the term “prehistoric”, which, as outlined
of
Chapter 9, carries some problematic
in
only took 30 years for the Benin Bronzes to
It
a significant effect on the understanding
have
art in the European paradigm. Today
of
largest collection of Benin Bronzes is in
the
with the vast majority held between
London,
and Germany. Between 1951 and 1972,
England
British Museum sold over 30 “redundant”
the
“back” to Nigeria, because they were
bronzes
specimens. In late 2018, the British
duplicate
agreed to loan a selection of the
Museum
have historically claimed that a
Collectors
belongs to them because they “found” it,
work
it or were the first to recognize its value.
“saved”
some objects acquire artistic status in the
Indeed,
of being collected and exhibited, while
process
other cases, functional objects (such as a table)
in
become culturally displaced works of art in
can
museum halfway around the world. The fact
a
that objects, artworks and artefacts that
remains
been stolen, acquired, or found and later
have
are identified as being of value, even if
exhibited
originally did not have artistic status “back
they
Once this value is identified, if a claim to
home”.
work is made, why is it not honoured?
a
United Nations convention of 1970
The
a framework for the legal export or
provides
II. Perspectives
II. Perspectives
in Bodrogi 1969)
assumptions.
however, transformed (or coincided with)
bronzes temporarily to Nigeria.
II.4.1 Why has repatriation not happened?
The Hanuman rst surfaced on the market while
Cambodia was in the midst of a war and facing
genocide. How could anyone not know this was
stolen property? The only answer is that no one
wanted to know.
(Davis quoted in Tharoor 2015)
cultural group.
repatriation of art and archeological materials
allowed to enter the collection in the first place.
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