Colonialism and the Museum

1. Period and Location: Colonialism and the Museum

Today you will be looking at the acquisition of artwork that occurred between 1799 and 1897, a span of almost 100 years. These acquisitions focus geographically on Benin City, Nigeria, and Athens, Greece.

big idea

Many early museums developed from the idea of the Wunderkammer or Kunstkammer, a room filled with curiosities from other lands.

terms to know

Wunderkammer

A room, usually in the house of a wealthy and/or well-traveled person, that is full of treasures and curiosities from faraway places.

Kunstkammer

A room, usually in the house of a wealthy person, where works of art are displayed.

2. Encyclopedic Museums

Encyclopedic museums are museums that include examples of art and culture from all over the world, from antiquity through modern times. Several good examples of encyclopedic museums would be the Louvre in Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Art Institute in Chicago, Illinois, shown below.

Conversely, examples of museums that would not be considered encyclopedic museums would be the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The reason is that their scope is much more specific. For example, modern art is the focus of the MoMA and European art from the Middle Ages and later is the focus of the Getty.

term to know

Encyclopedic Museum

A museum that attempts to provide a comprehensive view of history and/or art history.

3. Colonial Acquisitions of Art: Historical Context and Examples

There still remains plenty of controversy regarding how works of art were and are acquired. During the late 18th and 19th centuries, invading European armies brought back artifacts and works of art from the lands they conquered and occupied. Many of the collections, such as the British Museum’s Egyptian collection and the Louvre’s extensive collection of European art, were obtained in this way.

The Benin Bronzes, shown here, are examples of works of art that were acquired by questionable means; in this case, a punitive raid on Benin in West Africa in 1897, when the British army seized 3,000 or so works of art from Africa.

The British weren’t alone in their questionable acquisition of artwork. Napoleon was notorious for his looting exploits in the countries he conquered during his expansionary campaigns of the 19th century.

did you know

In fact, the extent and scope of Napoleon’s looting campaigns was only surpassed by the Nazis during World War II.

There still remains considerable controversy regarding the rightful ownership of works of art and the role museums play and have played in the proliferation of looted or stolen art. For example, the Elgin Marbles, shown below, are a collection of ancient marble sculptures that were largely from the Parthenon in the Athenian Acropolis. They currently reside in the British Museum in London.

You might think that the Greek government would like to have them in their own museum, and you’d be correct. However, Thomas Bruce—or Lord Elgin, as he was the Earl of Elgin—acquired the sculptures through rather unscrupulous means during his tenure as the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Lord Elgin manipulated his way into getting approval to access the works of art in what was, at the time, Ottoman-occupied Greece. He subsequently worked out a deal, allegedly due in part to some last-minute bribery, to remove a considerable amount of sculpture and return it to his home in Great Britain. He agreed to sell the sculptures to the British government to cover some debts. After a parliamentary decision to legally justify Elgin’s acquisition methods, they were entrusted to the British Museum where they reside today, as you can see below.

brainstorm

The Elgin Marbles are an interesting example of the shady underbelly that existed—and to some degree still does—within the art market. When looking at artwork in a museum, have you ever wondered how the museum actually acquired the pieces?

terms to know

Benin Bronzes

Sculptures from the West African city of Benin that the British seized when they attacked the city in 1897.

Elgin Marbles

The sculptures from the Parthenon that were brought back to England by Lord Elgin in the late 1700s.