BellaOnline Forums Education Art Appreciation Should these treasures be returned?

I just wrote an article on the art of Benin, an African kingdom (you can see my article here: The Royal Art of Benin). As a result of the British invasion in Benin in the late 1800s, a significant quantity of these works of art were confiscated and now reside in museums throughout the world. Do you think these museums should give these treasures back to the African nation?

Diana, what a fantastic and interesting article! Thank you.

I do think the treasures should be given back to the African nation, if the nation asks for it. It is stolen art and belongs to the African peoples. I find the same issues with Native American art and articfacts, where items are in museums and private collections and although it is being taken care of properly, it belongs to the Native American tribes and clans. If they choose to keep it in the museums for safe keeping, that is fine. However, if they want it back, they should be given it.

This seems to happen so much through history and it seems that there is always a loser in the situation. Museums are filled with foreign art through the conquest of war. I have often asked myself the question if I owned a piece of art that was handed down through generations and found out it had been acquired fraudulently how would I react to being the person to decide to give it back or keep handing it down through the generations? I would hope I would be the one to correct the offense and give it back.
It does seem that there could be agreements made as either purchasing the art legally, giving it back or agreeing to be co-owners letting the art tour through out the countries and the money split between the two.

There are some museums that want to retain these works of art because they feel that the country or origin has not provided a adequate means of storage for the artifacts. This is the case with the British Museum and their retention of many Greek works of art. But the Greeks have nearly completed a new museum at the Acropolis where they feel the artifacts can now be cared for appropriately. I wonder what will happen...

I believe they should be given back as well. I had to do a report in my cultural anthropology class last semester and I did one one on the Ghost Dance that actually led to the massacre at Wounded Knee and thats because we (the whites)were afraid of the dance and one of the original ghost shirts from the dance found its way into a wild west show that traveled the world and the shirt wound up in a museum in Scotland and they are going to give it back to the Sioux Nation if they haven't already.

If I can hunt down my information, I will post it here.

But yes I think treasures and art should be returned to the people or country that it was from originally.

Ok the shirt was set to be returned back to the Lakota Sioux in 1998. It was with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and is believed to be the shirt from one of the fallen warriors at Wounded Knee. If you want to read more about it, here is the link.

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I do agree that it's a tough decision if for example the current holding museum got the object in good faith. Let's say they have staff which adore the object, spent months and months and tons of time and effort in lovingly restoring it to a perfect state. And now a tiny country with no money at all to care for it wants to have it "just to have it". What if it is clear that the object will fall into disrepair in a matter of months in the new environment?

Is it up to "us" as a society to have the object preserved for history, in a location best suited to that? Or should we give objects back to their "historical owners" even if the object is going to be destroyed by this?

What if it was a gorgeous gold large statue, and the main reason the country wanted it back was to melt it down to get money for weapons?

Thanks Vance for posting that link on Ghost Dance Shirt.

I enjoyed the article

That is very interesting information, Vance. I feel really good that the shirt is returning to the rightful owners. Thanks for sharing that.

Diana and Lisa,

You bring up a very valid point, and one that I was thinking as I read the other posts in this thread. I'm definitely conflicted on this entire topic.

While I do think that the country or people of origin should have a say in what happens to the art, preserving the object is also very important.

The thought of returning an item to the people of origin should be balanced with the ability of the people of origin's ability to preserve the item. I don't think there is one clear right or wrong in this issue, and ultimately, I like museums.