Latest news with #Bronzes
Boston Globe
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In an extraordinary move, MFA to return prized African art to wealthy donor and close gallery
Advertisement That has put the MFA, which owns just a handful of the exhibited objects but had been promised the rest, in a difficult position. It has been seeking to broker an ethical ownership agreement for a collection it does not yet own, perhaps transferring title to the royal court in exchange for a long-term loan of the objects. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's really not appropriate for us to bring them into the collection,' said Victoria Reed, the museum's senior curator for provenance. 'But that means that we do not own them, and therefore we don't have control over them.' The tortuous negotiations seemingly dissipated last week when donor Robert Owen Lehman asked the museum to give him back the disputed bronzes, an extraordinary move that will require the MFA to close its Advertisement Portuguese Soldier from the 16th century. Lane Turner/Globe Staff 'We're all sad in contemplating this outcome,' said MFA director and chief executive Matthew Teitelbaum. 'There's no moment of celebration or resolution that feels fully satisfying.' Teitelbaum, who described the return as a 'mutual agreement,' said the museum found itself in unusual circumstances. He added that Lehman, whose eponymous foundation recently lost 'We were trying to get to a point where the court could assume ownership, and we could ensure display,' said Teitelbaum, who added the museum had been negotiating with the royal palace. 'We were making some progress, but without any certainty of outcome.' Lehman, an award-winning filmmaker and banking heir, did not respond to a request for comment. A woman who answered the phone at a number under Lehman's listing said she was 'quite certain he has no comment.' Lehman originally brokered the promised gift of 30-odd objects in 2012 with then-director Malcolm Rogers. They structured the gift so that individual Bronzes, which date from the 16th century on, would formally enter the museum's collection on a staggered timetable. Today, the MFA has clear title to five of the artworks, which it will retain for the time being. It plans to return the 29 other Bronzes to Lehman once staffers have deinstalled the gallery, which is set to close on April 28th. The museum will also return two objects from Sierra Leone that were part of the initial pledge. Reed said that although it's not the outcome the museum had hoped for, it also simplifies the MFA's path ahead. Advertisement 'What was a very complicated situation has now become far less complicated,' she said. 'It positions us now to talk about the five objects that we own, and look towards a resolution that is more in alignment with our stated principles and institutional values.' This relief plaque showing two officials with raised swords, c. 1530‑1570, is among the works already donated to the MFA. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Benin Kingdom -- as opposed to the modern country of Benin, which borders Nigeria -- was a powerful West African force in the 19th Century. But after a group of British officials was killed during a trade dispute in 1897, Britain launched a so-called punitive expedition. Using boats and early machine guns, soldiers slaughtered untold numbers before sacking the royal palace and looting thousands of Bronzes, virtuosic works that eventually spread to an estimated 160 museums. The MFA's collection of the bronzes has always posed a problem for the museum. Less than a month after it announced the gift in 2012, Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments demanded the museum return the works. 'We have every right in the world to own these beautiful pieces,' Rogers told the Globe at the time. Separately, Rogers approached the royal court, where the oba, or king, authorized the MFA's installation. The oba, who died in 2016, dispatched emissaries to attend the gallery's 2013 opening, though he did not weigh in on the museum's long-term ownership of the Bronzes. Rogers, who retired from the MFA in 2015, did not respond to an interview request. The current oba, Ewuare II, has been outspoken about the Bronzes' return, and in recent years numerous museums, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and some German institutions have moved to repatriate the looted objects. Advertisement Those efforts have been complicated by the question of where in Nigeria the restituted objects should go. Museums had negotiated for years with the Nigerian National Commission for Museums and Monuments. But Nigeria sowed confusion in 2023, when it formally recognized the oba as 'There is no more ambiguity,' Commission head Olugbile Holloway told Reuters in February. 'The Oba has given the NCMM the blessing.' Commemorative head of an Oba, from the late 16th century. The MFA will close its Benin Kingdom Gallery on April 28. Lane Turner/Globe Staff Teitelbaum said that although the MFA has been in conversation with the royal court, the Nigerians have never submitted a renewed ownership claim. 'We initiated the conversations with the court in response to the international context,' he said. Teitelbaum added that the museum 'paused' Lehman's promised gift in 2021 -- indefinitely tabling the formal acquisition of more Bronzes -- though it continued to exhibit them in the dedicated gallery. Kelly Hays, who directs the MFA's Gifts of Art program, said it's exceedingly rare for a donor and the museum to amend or rescind a pledge. 'They are legally binding enforceable pledges, and we take that seriously,' said Hays, who estimated that fewer than 10 pledges have been altered over the years. 'This one has the appearance of being unusual just because of the circumstances, the nature of the collection, and the fact that it's been on view in a gallery.' Teitelbaum said the museum will offer free admission Thursday so visitors can see the Bronzes one last time. In June, the museum plans to display the five Bronzes in its collection. (It will also display one on loan from Lehman, a commemorative head that left the Kingdom before the 1897 attack.) Advertisement 'We are going to tell the story of objects we have with commitment and with a real sense of pride,' said Teitelbaum, 'but there is no doubt there is a loss.' Malcolm Gay can be reached at
Telegraph
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Don't return Benin Bronzes, says former anti-racism tsar
The Benin Bronzes should not be sent back to Africa, Britain's former anti-racism tsar has said. Sir Trevor Phillips, who previously led the Commission for Racial Equality, said the case for returning the treasures looted by British forces more than 125 years ago was 'weak' because of their complex history. The Nigerian government has repeatedly demanded the return of the artefacts that were scattered to museums across the world after being taken in a raid on the ancient Kingdom of Benin, located in modern-day Nigeria, in 1897. The British Museum has come under mounting pressure to hand over its own collection after several UK and European institutions, including both the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, sought to return theirs. But Sir Trevor, who led the anti-racism commission from 2003 until its abolition in 2006, warned the issue was more complex than 'a simple matter of right and wrong'. Sir Trevor is the co-author of a report from the Policy Exchange think tank urging museums not to rush into restitution deals for moral reasons pushed by political campaigners. The paper says returning items to their countries of origin has often been presented as a way for institutions to 'right the wrongs of the past'. But it warns that claims actually 'vary greatly in legitimacy', with their merits 'highly disputed on historical, philosophical and political grounds'. Materials from slave trade Sir Trevor, a veteran broadcaster and former Labour Party member, said: 'Take the case of the Benin Bronzes, taken to Britain in the late 19th century following a punitive expedition. 'And yet, the people of Benin obtained the brass for many of these artefacts by trading with Portuguese merchants in exchange for chattel slaves. 'And are more people who have a meaningful connection to the Bronzes – including the global West African diaspora – more likely to have the opportunity to see the Bronzes in British museums, or in the Oba of Benin 's [the traditional leader of the Edo people who were Benin's dominant group] private collection? 'The case for returning them is weak. Yet in other cases, such as religious artefacts still venerated by the indigenous community who created them, the case for return may be much stronger.' The Policy Exchange paper, published on Sunday, claims too many decisions on handing over precious artefacts are being taken without proper consultation, while some museums use long-term loans as a form of restitution by the back door. It also raises concerns about a so-called 'loophole' in charity law, which could allow the Elgin Marbles to be handed back to Greece. The British Museum and other major institutions are barred by law from giving away the contents of their collections. But clauses in the Charities Act 2022 had the unintended effect of allowing museums to dispose of artefacts if there was a 'moral obligation' for doing so. Tory ministers failed to fully close this loophole before last year's general election, and the Labour Government could exploit these clauses to allow the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens. Museums 'speak to all humanity' Sir Trevor said: 'Recent years have seen an increasing call for British museums to return artefacts taken from other countries, often under circumstances of disputed legality. 'For some, this is a simple matter of right and wrong. Yet the truth is rarely as simple. Times change, cultures evolve, people migrate – and, over the centuries, artefacts gain meaning and connection to many people beyond those now living in the land from which they first emerged. 'Our best museums and collections aim to speak to all of humanity, educating and informing, not to any single nationality, race or creed. 'As with statues or buildings named after individuals whose legacy is being re-evaluated, in too many cases we have seen decisions taken rapidly or without due process, or where only a partisan and non-representative set of stakeholders has been consulted. 'In many cases the outcome has been to prolong conflict, in others to delay implementation, and in still others to create a fresh movement for the reversal of decisions.' He added: 'We must deal with the world as it is, not as we would like it to be.' The Policy Exchange report sets out a new framework for museum stewards to follow when dealing with restitution claims, featuring eight key principles. These include considering the 'relative significance' of the object to the place where it is being held, as well as the group making the claim, and the world at large.
BBC News
19-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Benin Bronzes: Netherlands to return stolen Benin statues to Nigeria
The Netherlands says it will return over 100 Benin Bronzes that British troops looted from Nigeria in the late 19th Century and which ended up in a Dutch museum. Thousands of these culturally significant sculptures and carvings were stolen during the violent destruction of Benin City, in modern-day Nigeria's Edo state, in 1897. The treasures were sold, some to private collectors and others to museums like the Wereldmuseum in The Netherlands, which has displayed these artefacts for return of the 113 artefacts is the "largest repatriation of Benin antiquities", said Olugbile Holloway, director-general of Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM). Despite the name, not all the statues are made of bronze. They include figurines, tusks, sculptures of Benin's rulers, and an ivory mask. They were made during between the 15th and 19th Centuries.A transfer of agreement is due to be signed on Wednesday. Mr Holloway added that he hoped this would set a good example for other Bronzes: 'My great-grandfather sculpted the looted treasures'Why slave descendants want the Benin Bronzes to stay in USIn 2022, Germany was the first to return over 20 Benin bronzes in a bid to deal with its "dark colonial history". "With this return, we are contributing to the redress of a historical injustice that is still felt today," said Dutch Minister of Culture, Education, and Science Eppo Bruins, reports the AFP news agency. The sculptures, prized for their beauty and technical artistry, are of spiritual and historical significance for the people from that part of Nigeria. Their theft still remains a point of pain for the descendants of those from the ancient Benin move may increase pressure on other institutions to return the Benin Bronzes, especially the British Museum, which has over 900 artefacts. Protests and demonstrations have taken place outside the British Museum as part of a campaign for their return. However, an act of parliament prevents the British Museum from sending them many in Nigeria, the Benin Bronzes are a potent reminder of the violence of colonialism. The NCMM has issued formal repatriation requests to museums across the said it plans to open the Edo Museum of West African Art in Benin City in 2026, designed by the British-Ghanaian architect Sir David Adjaye, to house the largest collection of Benin Bronzes ever assembled. More about the Benin Bronzes from the BBC: Ghana, Nigeria and the quest for UK looted treasureBenin Bronzes declaration 'blindsides' museum officialsThe art dealer, the £10m Benin Bronze and the Holocaust Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
