UCLA’s Fowler Museum to reach out to Nigeria about returning its Benin bronzes
As restitution momentum builds, director of Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art says it could lead discussions for the return of looted Benin objects in US museum collections
The Fowler Museum presented the exhibition On Display in the Walled City: Nigeria at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924-1925 last year. Courtesy of the Fowler Museum "The University of California (UCLA)’s Fowler Museum is planning talks with the Legacy Restoration Trust in Nigeria on the future of 18 objects in its collection from the former Kingdom of Benin. The discussions could lead to restituting the works, which were looted by British military forces in a raid on the Benin royal palace in 1897, its director says.
The Fowler’s statement, sent by email to The Art Newspaper, comes after the German government announced that it is laying the groundwork for a return of Benin bronzes in German museum collections. The planned restitution is part of a wide-ranging agreement with Nigerian stakeholders, represented by the Legacy Restoration Trust. The trust is planning to build a new museum in Benin City to house returning art stolen by British troops.
“The Fowler is committed to developing a process for considering the repatriation and restitution of African objects in its collection,” says Marla C. Berns, the Fowler Museum’s director, in a statement. “Our expectation is to begin discussions with authorities in Nigeria about the disposition of the 18 Benin objects in our collection in the coming months.”
She adds: “We know these discussions may lead to various resolutions, including either their return or a long-term loan that would permit us, as a university museum, to share them in teaching the history of the Kingdom of Benin.” She hopes talks “will lead to a solution based on the guidance of the Legacy Restoration Trust”.
After the 1897 looting, artefacts from Benin’s royal palace were sold off and scattered around the world; there are are now Benin objects held by more than 160 international museums. A large part of the Fowler Museum’s holdings of African art were donated in 1965 by the Wellcome Trust in London, which distributed the vast collections of the pharmaceutical industrialist Sir Henry Wellcome after his death, Berns says. Currently, three objects from Benin—two bronzes and one carved ivory tusk—are on display in a long-term exhibition."— Catherine Hickley, Apr. 14, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the The Art Newspaper website.
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