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30.12.2012 Feature Article

Arts Of Nigeria In French Private Collections

Panel depicting an armed chief, Benin, Nigeria, now in private collection in France.Panel depicting an armed chief, Benin, Nigeria, now in private collection in France.
30.12.2012 LISTEN

Many Africans tend to believe that the majority of looted or stolen Nigerian artworks are to be found in Great Britain, especially, in the British Museum which was the main beneficiary of the nefarious Benin looting of 1897. This is largely true today even though the venerable museum refuses to inform the public about the exact number of looted or stolen artefacts it has among its large number of artefacts, 8 millions as reported by the BBC. (1)

As a result of this concentration on Great Britain, most of us are unaware that other former colonialists, such as the French also have large numbers of Nigerian artefacts. The Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Italians, Spanish, Portuguese and the French all have Nigerian collections. The Danish, Norwegians and Swedes, who at one time or another were involved in colonial adventures and set up castles and forts along the West African coasts, also have their collections.(2) Though never a colonial power in Africa, Switzerland has a large number of the best Nigerian artefacts. The United States of America has, in all probability, more African artefacts than any other Western State and more than any African State.

Arts of Nigeria in French Private Collections, edited by Alain Lebas, gives us a fairly comprehensive view of the quantity and quality of Nigerian artworks that are in private hands in France.(3) We are seeing for the first time most of these artworks that left Nigeria under dubious circumstances. This book is the catalogue of an exhibition, Nigerian Art from French Private Collections which runs from October 24, 2012 to April 2013 at Musée de la civilisation, Québec, Canada. (4)

Before 1960, most Nigerian artworks in France were in public museums such as the Musée des Arts Africains et des Arts Oceaniens. The Musée Picasso had already an oba head and other African artefacts bought by Picasso himself. Nowadays, the bulk of African artefacts are to be found in the Musée du Quai Branly. (5)

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Colonization and contacts with Europe had of course brought some Nigerian artefacts to France even though Nigeria was not a French colony. But it was the dramatic events of the Biafran civil war (July 1961-January 1970) with its displacement of thousands of individuals that brought many more Nigerian artefacts to France. Large numbers of objects from the Igbo areas that were directly involved in the civil war appeared on the art market. Objects also came from areas such as the Niger Delta and the Cross River Valley that were not directly involved in the war. Most of the objects were exported through Cameroon. Another route for Nigerian artefacts was the Republic of Benin where there was a large market in Cotonou for Nigerian artefacts. Some Nigerian dealers brought the objects directly to Paris and also to Brussels.

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French dealers exhibited Nigerian artefacts in the areas around Rue de Seine, Rue Mazarine and Rue des Beaux Arts where they are still very active in selling and buying what they continue to designate as “Art primitif.” These dealers contributed to promoting French taste for African art and Nigerian art at a time when the British were not so keen on Nigerian art as such. However, in the final analysis, there are probably more Nigerian artefacts in Great Britain than in France.

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But the real “discoverers” of African and Nigerian art for the French and the Europeans, were French artists and the avant-garde as well as the German expressionists. At the beginning of the 20th century, French artists such as Derain, Picasso, Vlaminck, Matisse, the poet Apollinaire and others saw in the creative liberty of the African artists, what was missing in the European tradition with its rigid rules about issues, such as, proportions of the human body and other objects. (6) The cubists and surrealists set about imitating and sometimes, copying African art. They were the first to buy pieces of African art objects when available. Most often they viewed these objects in ethnographic museums such as the former Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens in Paris.

We did not find the pages (pp. 34-51) devoted to interviews with collectors particularly interesting or informative.

On the whole, the artefacts displayed are of very good quality and confirm the impression that the best of Nigeria's artefacts have been looted or smuggled out of the country. (7) There are no Nok sculptures in this book. Could it be that private collectors were unwilling to loan their Nok objects in view of the constant discussions about the stealing/looting of Nok artefacts and the allegations by Nigerian archaeologists that Germans involved in excavation in Nigeria are stealing such artefacts? (8) Whatever the reason for this absence of Nok sculptures in the exhibition catalogue, it seems incredible that none of the many Nok sculptures in Europe has landed in private collection in France. There are plenty of them in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. Have none of them been sold to French collectors? (9)

We also noted that there is no mention of restitution or discussion about the return of any of the artefacts displayed. Could it be possible that the authors of the catalogue and the curator were not aware of the growing demand for restitution or the world-wide discussion of the issue? Can an exhibition or its catalogue in our times be considered adequate that does not mention at least the issue of the restitution of the Benin artefacts, some of which are featured in this book? The demand for restitution is also part of the art history of Nigerian artefacts that are held abroad. Some continue to write or speak as if there had been no changes in the relationship between Nigeria and countries such as France where many of the illegally exported artefacts are to be found. The 19th century attitude towards African artefacts does not seem to have changed very much as far as some French collectors are concerned.

There is no expression of regret in the book that the French and other Westerners have taken away Nigeria's cultural artefacts that constitute evidence of its development and the record of its history. There seems also to be no awareness of the various UNESCO and United Nations resolutions on the return of cultural artefacts to their countries of origin. (10)

No doubt the National Commission for Museums and Monument (NCMM)

will consider strategies for securing the return of Nigerian artefacts that were illegally exported out of the country. The Director General of the NCMM has declared in his widely publicised statement: “The National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria, the organ charged with the responsibility of preserving Nigeria's antiquities considers the return of all these objects an issue of paramount importance that is why it is paying quality attention to it including setting up of a special unit to handle it” (11).

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We do not know so far whether the NCMM is already in contact with holders of looted or illegally transferred Nigerian artefacts. Catalogues of exhibitions such as the present book would be helpful in assessing the position and location of Nigerian artefacts in France.

K. Opoku, 30 December, 2012.

NOTES
1. “The 99% of the British Museum not on show”, Wednesday, 31 March, 2010,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/local/london/
2. Albert van Dantzig, Forts and Castles of Ghana, Sedco Publishing Limited, 1999, Accra.
3. 5 Continents Editions, pp.288, Milan. 2012.
4. http://www.mcq.org/index_en.html

5. K. Opoku, “Benin to Quai Branly: A Museum for the Arts of Others or for the Stolen Arts of the Others?” http://www.museum-security.org
Established in 2006, the Musée du Quai Branly inherited the African artefacts that had been in the possession of two institutions. Musée de l'Homme and the Musée National des Arts d'Afriqueet d'Océanie. These include objects from the
notorious Dakar-Djibouti expedition(1931-1933) which, through stealing, blackmail and duress, as described by Michel Leiris in L'Afrique Fantôme (1950, Paris, Gallimard), brought to France thousands of cultural objects looted or confiscated from the French colonies. Most of these artefacts are now in this museum which refuses even to contemplate their restitution to the countries of origin.
See K .Opoku,” The Logic of Non-Restitution of Cultural Objects from the Musee du Quai Branly”, http://www.museum-security.org

6. William Rubin, Primitivism in 20th Century Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1994. See also, K. Opoku, “Do African Sculptures ever die? Comments on the Exhibition “Ode au Grand Art Africain: Les Statues Meurent aussi”, Paris http://www.museum-security.org
7. See also, Ekpo Eyo, From Shrines to Showcases: Masterpieces of Nigerian Art, 2010, Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, Abuja

8. The dispute between Nigerians and the German archaeologists has been widely publicized. Germans Loot Nigerian Artefacts | Leadership Newspapers 
www.leadership.ng
Basically, the Nigerian archaeologists are accusing the German team of archaeologists from the University of Frankfurt present in the Nok area since 2005 of stealing and transferring many Nok pieces to Germany. The Germans respond that the pieces are being transferred to Germany for study and tests which cannot be done in Nigeria. In this connection, one may recall the dispute about the bust of Nefertiti that was surreptitiously taken out of Egypt and sent by the German archaeologist, Ludwig Borchardt to Berlin in 1913. Since then there has been a long-lasting dispute between Germany and Egypt about the ownership of the bust now displayed in the Neues Museum in Berlin. We may also recall the reports regarding Leo Frobenius in Nigeria and the disappearance of the Olokun head after the German ethnologist had seen it. The great Ekpo Eyo states “The original “Olokun” head described by Frobenius is now represented only by a copy; no one knows where the original is. It is not impossible that Frobenius could have arranged for its subsequent replacement with a copy.” Ekpo Eyo, and Frank Willett, Treasures of Ancient Nigeria, p.11 William Collins. See K.Opoku, “Ile-Ife Triumphs in the British Museum, London: Who said Nigerians are incapable of Looking after their Cultural Artefacts?”
http://www.modernghana.com

Useful to recall also is the controversy between Turkey and Germany over the Return of the Bogazkoy Sphinx http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/
The Bogazkoy Sphinx, along with other artefacts discovered by German archaeologists, had been sent in 1917 to Germany for restoration work. All the artefacts were returned except the Sphinx which the Germans decided to keep in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin. It was only in 2011, after pressure by Turkey and UNESCO intervention for years that Germany agreed to return the object. There are certainly many other examples of cases where Western scholars have, under the pretext of studying, taken cultural artefacts from Africa, Asia and Latin America and never returned them or did so only reluctantly afters years of dispute. There are thus historical examples to suggest caution and vigilance in sending artefacts abroad for tests or study. See also K. Opoku, “Nefertiti in Absurdity: How often must Egyptians ask Germans for the Return of the Egyptian Queen?” http://www.modernghana.com

K. Opoku, “Recovering Nigeria's Terracotta,” www.afrikanet.info/.../RECOVERING_NIGERI
Conflict antiquities,”German archaeologists looting Nigerian archaeological sites, or rescuing them?” conflictantiquities.wordpress.com/.../nigeria-loot
Nigerian Voice, “Looting of Nigeria's Antiquities; Museum Officials, Archaeologists Set New Rules”, http://www.thenigerianvoice.com
Nigeria=Looted Heritage
https://heritage.crowdmap.com/reports/?c=24

9. Memoire d'Afrique displays at its website, at least 200 nok objects said to be in private hands http://www.memoiredafrique.com/en/nok/galerie-amis.php
10. The United Nations Assembly has adopted several resolutions on this issue. See the latest General Assembly resolution A/67/80 after the draft text contained in A/67/ L.34 had been adopted unanimously on 12 December, 2012. The draft was co-sponsored by 98 Member States including Canada, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, and the United States of America.
11. Statement of the Director General of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments Nigeria's antiquities abroad must return -DG
http://www.ncmmnigeria.com/nigerias-antiquities-abroad-must-return-dg/

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