BENIN EXHIBITION IN CHICAGO: CUNO AGREES TO CONSIDER REQUEST FOR       
RESTITUTION OF BENIN BRONZES                                           
By Dr. Kwame Opoku -Modern Ghana                                       
Feature Article | Mon, 14 Jul 2008                                      
                                                                         
.                                                                 
                                                                         
                                                                         
As readers know, the exhibition, Benin - Kings and Rituals: Royal Arts 
from Nigeria, which started in Vienna, in 2007, went on to Paris and   
Berlin, was opened in Chicago, on 10 July and will be there until 21   
September 2008.                                                         
                                                                         
For various reasons, including the fear of litigation and judicial     
attempts to seize some of the Benin bronzes, only some 220 objects will
be displayed in Chicago compared to some 300 objects in Berlin. The bad
consciences of some of the holders of these objects seem to have been   
activated by the previous protests in Chicago and the discussions on   
the illegality and illegitimacy of their possession. Hence some owners 
were not willing to let their artefacts cross the Atlantic to the USA   
where judges are quick to order seizure of artworks which are alleged   
to have been stolen or dubious provenance.                             
                                                                         
A 40 page catalogue specifically made for the Chicago exhibition,       
Benin: Royal Arts of a West African Kingdom, does not appear to be     
ready yet but will highlight 22 masterpieces from Benin art and         
includes as essay by the curator, Kathleen Bickford Berzock. As we have
mentioned in various articles, the 535 page catalogue edited by Barbara
Plankensteiner for the exhibition in Vienna, Paris and Berlin is a     
masterwork and should be also consulted by all those seriously         
interested in the arts of Benin. (1) The home page of the Art Institute
of Chicago contains very useful information, including videos for the   
understanding of the exhibition and the arts and culture of Benin.     
www.artic.edu/aic                                                       
                                                                         
According to reports from Chicago, the opening of the exhibition was an
impressive affair with the presence of the august Nigerian visitors as 
well as prominent Nigerians based in Chicago and Illinois.(2) Important
Chicago officials such as the Mayor were present as well as Reverend   
Jesse Jackson, the African-American leader and activist. Edo singers   
and dancers as well as West African bands were also there to contribute
to the occasion in African fashion by                                   
providing music, an indispensable element in all African social         
activities.                                                             
                                                                         
Once again, the Benin Royal Family emphasized the need for the return   
of the artefacts which were stolen by the British in 1897. Princess     
Theresa Evbakhavbokun Erediauwa stated that she wants to build a secure
museum in Benin. She and the Nigerian officials there asked for support
in recovering the artefacts back through diplomatic channels. She       
wanted her family heirlooms back. These objects tell the story of her   
family.                                                                 
                                                                         
Chief Esosa Godwin Eghobamien stated that the presence on the artworks 
in Benin would provide more and better context. Visitors to exhibitions
where these objects are displayed often do not even know where Benin is
and it would be better if they came to see where the artefacts were     
produced and thus see where civilization started in Africa. Kingsley   
Ehi, a real estate manager in Chicago and head of the Edo Arts and     
Cultural Heritage expressed the hope that these artefacts will soon be 
returned home.                                                         
                                                                         
Despite the sad story of the looting of the Benin bronzes, Prince       
Ademola Iyi-Eweka was impressed by the exhibition; he would like the   
artworks to be returned. The world should know that Benin has survived 
despite losing the war against the British. Diplomatic efforts are     
being made to secure the Benin bronzes but if that fails, steps would   
be taken to institute legal proceedings.                               
                                                                         
James Cuno, Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, responded to the 
please of the Nigerian representatives by saying that the Art Institute
of Chicago which is not involved, only possesses half a dozen Benin     
works of art which are beautiful and important. The encyclopaedic       
museum allowed art works from various countries to be seen at one place
and their interconnections. He was concerned by the trend towards       
consolidating art from a particular time or place in a single location.
A dispersal of the objects enables more people to see the objects and   
also reduces the risk of calamity. Despite all this, Cuno stated that   
if there were a request for the return of the Benin objects, the Art   
Institute of Chicago would consider it seriously.                       
                                                                         
Cuno's statement must be considered as noteworthy of attention, coming 
from a man considered by man as the defender of the “universal museum”'
a guru for all those who believe nothing should leave the British       
Museum and similar “universal museums.” (3) Cuno has made repeated     
attacks on those he calls “nationalist retentionists”for claiming       
ownership in ancient artefacts of ancient peoples with whom they have   
nothing in common except that they occupy the same territory as the     
ancient civilizations.                                                 
                                                                         
The report on Cuno's statement is sketchy and we do not have his exact 
words. We do not know whether he repeated his usual criticism of those 
claiming restitution in his abrasive style in presence of the Royal     
Family of Benin and the Nigerian officials. If the statements           
attributed to him are to be believed, then Cuno has made a small but   
significant shift in his stand. He did not dismiss outright such claims
but is willing to consider such claims. Willingness to consider does   
not imply acceptance of the claim but it at least shows an admission   
that such claims may be valid in some cases.                           
                                                                         
We do not have the full text of Cuno's statement and may never have it 
since it appears to be the policy or practice of this exhibition not to
publish the full text of statements made at the opening. I still have   
not seen any text of statements made in Vienna, Paris or Berlin. This   
is an interesting practice in a scholarly matter.                       
                                                                         
We hope that when Cuno says he will consider the matter when a request 
is made, he is suggesting that so far no request has been made. The     
Nigerians have repeatedly in Vienna, Berlin and Chicago made it clear   
that they want their artefacts back. What else must they do?           
                                                                         
We have shown in several articles that there is no legal requirement   
for a formal demand. If the Art Institute is willing to consider       
returning some of the Benin bronzes but feels that the Institute's     
regulations or some binding law would require written demand, he should
in good faith, inform the Nigerians about this requirement and the     
relevant procedure. He should not leave it to the Nigerians to beat     
about the bush. Any other approach would seem to be merely delaying     
tactic. Cuno as well as the Nigerians are interested in clearing this   
matter if the co-operation he hopes for is to be fruitful.             
                                                                         
A goodwill gesture by the Art Institute of Chicago would be an         
encouragement to those holding hundreds of Benin bronzes to come       
forward and make their indispensable contribution. Despite statements   
by a mischievous director of a famous American museum, neither this     
writer nor any of those arguing for restitution are suggesting that all
Benin objects be returned to Benin. We are only suggesting that it is   
time that, for example, the British Museum which allegedly holds 1000   
pieces and the Ethnology Museum, Berlin, which admittedly has 800       
pieces could each afford to return some pieces each. The nightmare of   
the museum directors that they may one day find their museums emptied   
of all their African objects is a figment of the troubled imagination   
of those who have not attempted to understand the position of others.   
                                                                         
Discussions in Nigeria on the restitution question, in view of the     
Chicago exhibition, are concerned with the lack of progress in the     
process of recovery (4). Comparisons have been made with the           
spectacular return of a number of objects by US museums to Italy. It is
known that the Italians used both diplomatic negotiations, legal       
proceedings, including imprisonment of a curator of the Paul Getty     
Museum. In this context, one could also mention the success of another 
African country, Egypt, in recovering some 3000 objects in the last six
years. The Supreme Council on Egyptians Antiquities, under the dynamic 
leadership of Zahi Hawass, publish their activities at their homepage   
and their objectives are made known to the public and all concerned.   
                                                                         
In an article published in the Nigerian newspaper, The Guardian, it     
appears that the aim of the Nigerian Government at the moment is to     
make an inventory of Nigeria's stolen artefacts. The Minister of       
Tourism, Culture and National Orientation is reported to have disclosed
that a committee will be set up to make an inventory of Nigeria's       
artefacts within and outside the country. In this connection, it is     
recalled that the Minister was reported to have referred to the         
establishing of such an inventory in his speech in February, at the     
opening of the Benin exhibition in Berlin. Despite all efforts, we have
not been able to secure a copy of the text of that statement.           
                                                                         
With regard to an inventory of stolen Nigerian artefacts abroad, it     
should be stated that with regard to the Benin bronzes, the catalogue   
prepared by Barbara Plankensteiner for the exhibition in Vienna, Paris 
and Berlin, contains information sufficient for the identification of   
the locations and owners of the Benin objects. Philip J. C. Dark, in   
his study, “Benin Bronze Heads: Styles and Chronology”, identified 6500
Benin objects in some 77 places, mostly museums.(5) Similar             
publications and information on other Nigerian arts, such as those of   
Ife and Nok are easily available. We know for sure that some Nok       
objects are in the musée du quai Branly, in Paris, and are there with   
the consent of Nigeria, after they had been illegally acquired by the   
French.                                                                 
                                                                         
A complete inventory of Nigerian artefacts inside and outside the       
country appears to be more than a Herculean task the utility of which   
should be carefully considered. Most of the countries than have         
recently recovered stolen arts do not seem to have made such an         
inventory but proceeded as and when information became available.       
                                                                         
However one looks at the issue of restitution, it is clear that the     
Queen Idia hip mask means more to Africans and Nigerians than to       
Europeans and the British. Which European derives inspiration or hope   
from the African Queen-mother? Indeed, most Europeans are not even     
aware that there are so many African Queens and Kings held against     
their will in European and American museums. If the European museum     
directors do not understand this, they should stop talking about       
heritage of mankind. What kind of heritage is this which allows one     
side to high-jack for hundreds of years the religious, ritual and       
cultural icons of the other?                                           
                                                                         
If the Art Institute of Chicago finally decides to return a Benin       
bronze, quite diplomacy would be given a great boost. If nothing comes 
out of cooperation with such institutions, the Nigerians must seriously
re-examine their position and methods so far.                           
                                                                         
In Chicago, stolen Benin artefacts on parade                           
                                                                         
Tuesday, July 01, 2008                                                 
By Tajudeen Sowole                                                     
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
                                                                         
AS the waiting game continues in the effort to retrieve stolen African 
cultural objects, a distraction may have crept in under the disguise of
collaboration with the 'keepers' to promote the artefacts.             
The latest development in this regard is the exhibition of about       
quarter of a million works of Benin origin made in brass, ivory and     
coral, scheduled to open at the Art Institute of Chicago, U.S on July   
10, and ends on September 21, 2008.                                     
                                                                         
The exhibition, Benin: Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria is a 
tour-show which took off at the famous Ehhnologisches Museum, (Museum   
of Ethnology) Berlin, Germany on February 7 till May 25, 2008.         
                                                                         
The event being funded by a U.S based NGO, Sara Lee Foundation,         
according to information from the organisers is a "groundbreaking       
exhibition of 220 works in brass, ivory and coral and serves as the     
sole U.S venue" for the tour show.                                     
                                                                         
Surprisingly, supports for the two exhibitions came from the royal     
house of Benin as well as the National Commission for Museum and       
Monuments, NCMM, Abuja. The Art Institute of Chicago stated:           
"Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria is an exhibition of   
the Museum f�r V�lkerkunde Wien-Kunsthistorisches Museum, in cooperation 
with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria; the   
Ethnologisches Museum-Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; the Art Institute of
Chicago; and the Mus�e du Quai Branly, Paris."                           
                                                                         
When the show opened in Berlin five months ago, the organisers, in the 
brochure, stated thus: "There can be no doubt that the audience granted
in 2006 by the reigning king of Benin,                                 
Omo N'Oba Erediauwa CFR, was a highpoint in the preparations for the   
exhibition because it then became possible to receive objects on loan   
from the royal house for the first time in                             
an exhibition outside Nigeria. In addition, we received generous       
support from and enjoyable cooperation with the National Commission for
Museums and Monuments and its General                                   
Director, Dr. O.J. Eboreime, who describes the Benin exhibition in his 
foreword as probably one of the most outstanding cultural events of the
decade to take place outside Nigeria in this field."                   
Meanwhile, back home, during the ministerial press briefing by the     
Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation,       
Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, on Thursday, June 26, 2008, at the National   
Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, taking inventory appears to be the government's
next project as regards the nation's controversial artefacts, among     
others.                                                                 
                                                                         
Under the theme, Leveraging Economic Growth Through Tourism, Culture   
and Value Re-Orientation, the minister, while reeling out several       
"achievements" of various agencies of the ministry disclosed that a     
committee will be set up to take inventory of the nation's artefacts   
within and outside the country.                                         
                                                                         
While Nigeria is currently attempting to take inventory of its carted   
away artefacts, countries around the world, even in Africa, are already
achieving restitution. In April 2005, part of a 1,700-year old         
200-tonne column looted by Italy nearly 70 years ago was returned to   
its original location in Ethiopia.                                     
Italian troops had seized the obelisk in 1937 and took it to Rome where
it has remained despite a 1947 UN agreement to return it to Ethiopia.   
But the historic return in 2005 makes the difference.                   
However, it did not take long for the adage: 'what you sow is what you 
reap' to take effect. Towards the end of last year, Italy was rewarded 
by law of natural justice as a 4th-Century B.C. marble statue, Griffins
Attacking A Fallen Doe illegally exported to the U.S was returned to   
Italy by the Los Angeles based J. Paul Getty Museum.                   
                                                                         
Contemporary works of Italian origin in various locations in the U.S   
like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art,   
New York; and Princeton University's Art Museum were also returned with
the fourth century B.C sculpture.                                       
                                                                         
Many of the items, it was revealed, had been bought by the museums in   
good faith after they were illegally transported from Italy. But       
Italy's unrelenting legal battle to retrieve the works paid off at the 
end of the day.                                                         
                                                                         
Last March, an exhibition, Nostoi: Returned Masterpieces held at the   
Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, which started in December 2007 and         
organized by the Italian government came to a close after it featured   
the 68 retrieved works.                                                 
                                                                         
In the case of Nigeria, the intention of the government to support an   
exhibition where its stolen creative outputs would be displayed has     
become subject of debate in the arts community.                         
Responding to the issue of the role of government in the said Berlin   
and Chicago exhibitions, the Sitting-in-for Director General of NCMM,   
Ochi Achinivu who spoke with The Guardian shortly after the ministerial
briefing argued that there is nothing wrong in government's support of 
such events or similar ones. " for the federal government to support   
any event aimed at promoting the nation's culture anywhere in the       
world, I think, it is a good idea," he said. While declining to make   
direct comment on the Chicago and Berlin exhibitions, Achinivu however 
warned that, "collaboration, support and any other persuasive mean     
available is better than confrontation in effort to have these objects 
returned".                                                             
                                                                         
Some of the artefacts, illegally left its original location and later   
acquired by the Ethnologisches Museum from the British after the       
punitive expedition suffered by the Benin Kingdom as a result of the   
British invasion in 1897.                                               
                                                                         
The museum was established on 12 December, 1873 specifically for the   
collection of cultural materials from the peoples of Africa and         
Oceania. According to the authority of the museum, "several German     
museums lent their Benin art works to the exhibition."                 
                                                                         
Contents of the 40-page catalogue of the Art Institute of Chicago       
exhibition "highlights 22 of the exhibition's masterworks." Curated by 
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, some of the works include 18 century pieces,
Iyoba, Head of Queen Mother, Oba Eresoyen's Stool, Plaque of Oba       
Esiegie on Horseback, and Altar Group (Aseberia) with Oba Akenzua I.   
                                                                         
For serious nations that truly desire restitution of their cultural and
religious objects from anywhere in the world, UNESCO's                 
Intergovernmental Committee For Promoting The Return Of Cultural       
Property To Its Countries Of Origin Or Its Restitution In Case Of       
Illicit Appropriation ICPRCP has a structure in place. At its           
fourteenth session, held in Paris, June 2007, the 22-member committee, 
currently including five African countries, Angola, Burkina Faso,       
Egypt, Libya, Niger and Zimbabwe came up with what it called Draft     
Rules Of Procedure On Mediation And Conciliation.                       
                                                                         
Article 1 of the document while saying that the committee requests for 
the return or restitution of cultural property, "as defined under       
Article 3 of the Statutes," also explains in Article 10 under the       
heading conclusion of the Procedure. The document recommends that a     
mediation or conciliation procedure shall be deemed concluded when a   
settlement that all parties deem binding has been reached.             
                                                                         
Other options the draft recommended included "when all of the Parties   
concerned consent in writing to deem the procedure concluded or when   
all Parties have set a time limit, within which no settlement has been 
reached."                                                               
                                                                         
The document explains further that the parties shall promptly inform   
the chairman of the committee, who shall inform the Director-General of
UNESCO and the members of the committee at the next session, of any     
settlement reached or procedure concluded without a settlement. It     
however warned that the chairman of the committee shall dismiss any     
procedure that has been concluded without a settlement, while the issue
remains before the committee.                                           
                                                                         
Fundamentally, UNESCO recommends that: "Before bringing a case before   
the intergovernmental committee, the requesting state must initiate     
bilateral negotiations with the state in which the requested object is 
located. Only when such negotiations have failed or are suspended can   
the case be brought before the committee."                             
                                                                         
However, how much of these several opportunities offered by UNESCO has 
been taken in Nigeria's pursuit of return or restitution of its         
monumental cultural heritage under hostage abroad is unknown. Achinivu,
again, requested that he needs time to make any official statement on   
this and that it is too early for him as a new appointee to make any   
definite statement as regards government's position.                   
Example of restitution in other part of the world in recent times       
include a stolen collection of over 90 artefacts dating from more than 
8,000 years ago and returned from Germany to Greece, last October. The 
artefacts believed to be of the Neolithic-era were stolen by armed     
burglars from a private collection in Larissa, central Greece, in 1985.
The materials were said to have been seized by the German police later.
After legal tussle initiated by the Greek Government, a Munich court   
ruled in August 2007 that the artefacts be returned to Greece.         
                                                                         
The artefacts, which include stone and pottery; statuettes, tools and   
tiny vases are said to be as old as between 6500 and 5300 B.C. Sources 
from the Greek government said the objects have their place of origin   
in the central Thessaly region of the country where Greece's most       
important Neolithic settlements have been excavated.