The brutish museums : the Benin Bronzes, colonial violence and cultural restitution
Hicks, Dan, 1972-2021
Books, Manuscripts
Find it!
Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objects are all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. In The 'Brutish Museum', Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.
Main title:
Author:
Hicks, Dan, 1972-, author
Imprint:
London : Pluto Press, 2021.
Collation:
xvii, 345 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (colour) ; 20 cm
Notes:
Originally published: 2020.Includes bibliographical references and index.
Audience:
Specialized.
ISBN:
9780745346229 (pbk)
Dewey class:
069.4
LC class:
AM135
Local class:
069.4
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2993494