British
Punitive Expedition of 1897
.British soldiers sit surrounded by
Benin works of art during the British Punitive Expedition of 1897 (documentary
photograph by Sir Harry Holdsworth Rawson)
"...It was the looting of Benin that made African art visible to Europeans. When the seized artifacts were sold, entering the collections of museums, there was a sense of surprise and mystification. Although travellers had written descriptions of Benin City, this was the first time anyone outside Africa comprehended the scale of Benin's artistic achievement.
So the German anthropologist Leo Frobenius set out to study and collect African sculpture, while in Britain, serious publications - including, in 1899, the British Museum's catalogue of its Benin acquisitions - laid the foundations for the history of the art of Benin and that of Africa.
There were plenty of ambiguities. Frobenius could not believe that the 12th- to 15th-century brass heads of Ife, which are earlier than the art of Benin, were of African origin; he speculated that they were the work of ancient Greeks from the lost city of Atlantis..."
http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2003/sep/11/2 (Links to an external site.)
Over the centuries, Benin had years of greatness and suffered times of turmoil, but a single event divides ancient from modern Benin. James Phillips, a British official in the Niger Coast Protectorate, led an unarmed expedition to Benin City in January 1897 to enforce trade agreements and a ban on reported human sacrifice. To prevent the British party from interfering with annual royal rituals, some chiefs ordered, against Oba Ovonramwen’s wishes, warriors to attack the expedition. Six British officials and almost 200 African porters were killed.
England responded immediately, mounting a “punitive expedition” to capture Benin City. The palace was burned and looted in February 1897, and the Oba was exiled to Old Calabar. To break the power of the monarchy and to end ritual practices, the British confiscated all of the royal art treasures, giving some to individual officers but taking most to auction in London to pay for the cost of the expedition…”
http://africa.si.edu/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/alonge/history-of-benin/ (Links to an external site.)
Getting the idea that this is a big deal?
It is!
In a nutshell, Oba Ovonramwen, the great ruler of Benin (Oba = ruler, king) taxed the British for using his resources. The British planned to march on Benin and stop the practice. Oba Ovonramwen told his people to wait for them to arrive but a group disobeyed him and attacked the on-marching British. The British retaliated by sending a large fully armed force against the city. After winning the battle they looted the city and took countless treasures. Europe had no idea such artwork was made in Africa before this, so more doors to destroying villages, and stealing were opened. Money was to be made by stealing and selling this art!
Benin plaque: the Oba with Europeans
Benin, Nigeria, Edo peoples, 16th century AD
The Oba’s eventually regained their seats and have continued to rule Benin. The issue of the invasion/looting remains and is presented in this contemporary response to the British Punitive:
http://benin1897.com./benin.php (Links to an external site.)
In the exhibition catalogue, Omo N' Oba's states: "The year 1897 means much to me and my people; it was the year the British invaded our land and forcefully removed thousands of our bronze and ivory works from my great grandfather, Oba Ovonramwen's Palace." Till date, families from the old kingdom still speak of their losses, in human and material terms, yet our world speaks tongue-in-cheek."
Suave lesson of the day. Who really owns the non - Western artwork that is behind glass cases in our museums?
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/benin-bronzes-restitution-1322807
As long as you are considering this why don’t continue on to the issue of “cultural appropriation”?
Time to test your sense of aesthetics. Look at the patterns and designs in the hair and jewelry in the NOK sculpture . Similar designs appear also in traditional Aso-Oke (pronounced ah-SHAW-okay), a strip-woven cloth.
Nineteenth century Yoruba aso oke shawl, cotton and silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
These textiles are thought to date back to the 10th century A.D.
Fabric doesn’t last as long as clay so the oldest forms no longer exist.
Aso-Oke, is still woven by the Yoruba people of Southwestern Nigeria.
Girl of the ethnic group ‘Fulani’ in Benin, West Africa. The traditional dress of the Fulani women consists of long colorful flowing robes. Image by Dietmar Temps
A Voodoo dancer – Benin – Traditional costumes – Image by luca.gargano
http://www.thelovelyplanet.net/tag/nigerians/ (Links to an external site.)
Here is an old video showing the weaving process:
How Aso Oke is Made (Yoruba tribe of Nigeria)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKLHD5dB3oc (Links to an external site.)
Aso Oke is labor intensive and not only beautifully rich with color and design but also filled with hundreds of years of tradition and meaning.
The beauty of African art’s pattern and design was captured by the fashion world as early as 1967, when French designer Yves Saint Laurent launched his “Africa Collection”.
The fashion world praised him for taking the Western world into Africa. Harper’s Bazaar called Saint Laurent’s Africa Collection “a fantasy of primitive genius”. Saint Laurent went so far as to take credit for putting African fashion on the map.
SUAVE people like you know that there was nothing “primitive”
about the pattern/design the gifted artists of Africa used. The artists did not
need for Saint Laurent to “put them on the map”.
The term for this is
cultural appropriation.
Of course it
isn’t only the African culture that is a victim of cultural appropriation.
The Lakshmi
swimsuit designed by Lisa Burke depicting an image of the Hindu sacred goddess
Lakshmi caused such an outcry that the designer pulled the suits from stores.
https://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/swimsuit-designer-lisa-blue-outrages-hindus-depicting-goddess-lakshmi-skimpy-bathing-suits-article-1.141181Urban Outfitters found they could make money by appropriating Navajo design:
Navajo Hipster Panty
Not just
fashion, but everyday objects are too often examples of Cultural Appropriation:
"Navajo Flask"
