Erin L. Thompson Profile picture
Jun 27, 2020 9 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Faut-il acheter de l'art pillé par des colonisateurs dans une ville africaine brûlée? J'ai écrit sur l'un des #BeninBronzes, qui sera vendu par @ChristiesInc Paris le lundi: hyperallergic.com/573457/fishy-p… @FrancoisF24 @EyeOnAfricaF24 @arianamozafari @DDesobeau
Exactement comme les statues qui glorifient les propriétaires d'esclaves, ce poisson représente un passé d'oppression violente. Image
En 1897, le souverain du Bénin, l'Oba, a imposé un embargo sur l'exportation des produits de l'huile de palme vers le territoire sous contrôle britannique. Les commerçants britanniques se sont plaints et le consul général du Niger Coast Protectorate voisin s'est rendu au Bénin.
Leur objectif était de déposer l'Oba et de mettre le Bénin sous contrôle britannique, mais l'expédition fut attaquée. L'Amirauté britannique, sous prétexte de venger les morts, a envoyé ce qu'elle a appelé une expédition punitive pour achever sa mission de colonisation.
Après trois jours de pillage, ils ont incendié la capitale du Bénin et sont rentrés chez eux avec des milliers d'œuvres d'art extraites du palais d'Oba - la première des innombrables ressources prises à un Bénin colonisé avant que le Nigéria ne déclare son indépendance en 1960. ImageImage
Aujourd'hui, il ne reste qu'une poignée de ces chefs-d'œuvre au Nigéria. Les autres sont dispersés dans des musées et des collections privées, principalement en Europe et en Amérique.
Le poisson du Bénin n'est pas le seul article moralement douteux à vendre. Christie’s propose également deux sculptures sacrées retirées du Nigéria à la fin des années 1960, pendant le chaos d’une guerre civile: instagram.com/p/CBFMuvbFE7k/…
Une pétition pour arrêter leur vente demande aux acheteurs potentiels de ne pas oublier que «ce n'est pas seulement le corps noir, mais aussi la culture, l'identité et surtout l'art noirs qui sont détournés». change.org/p/united-natio…
Si nous ne voulons pas célébrer le racisme et la violence coloniale dans nos monuments publics, nous ne devons pas non plus l'accepter dans nos collections d'art. #BeninBronzes et objets sacrés volés ne devraient pas être à vendre.

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More from @artcrimeprof

May 4
In 2021, a Nepali monastery told the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that the museum possessed a sacred painting stolen from the monastery in 1967. The museum responded by offering to give the monastery a replica... if they would sign away their rights to the original. A 🧵
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In August 1967, the American scholar Mary Slusser photographed the painting during an annual festival at the Yempi Mahavihara (also known as I Baha) in Patan, Nepal. In September, , as her diary shows, a dealer offered it to her.
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Jul 20, 2023
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Apr 28, 2023
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Here's a thread about this incredibly problematic monument:
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Inscriptions friends... is pecking out a circular letter form instead of carving freehand weird for ca. 530 BCE? (Context in next tweet.) Image
So, John Marshall buys this stele in fragments from 1902-1913: metmuseum.org/art/collection…. Marshall was offering £10 a letter for further fragments of the inscription, or £500 for the rest of it.
In 1907, here's the part of the inscription he has (left) and two more parts he's offered by a dealer in Athens (right). The new parts have the cautious circles. ImageImage
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