Published: 3 December 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
The journeys of looted artworks have powerful stories that are being explored in a new exhibition, writes Diane Cole
WITHIN THE LONG HISTORY of art resides the nearly-as-long history of looted art. We are dazzled by these treasures from faraway lands and ancient eras, even as we remain mostly blind to their provenance. Usually left unmentioned is their means of acquisition – all too often, brutally uprooted from their original homes and owners as the spoils of war, colonial conquest, or at the dictate of despots.
Until now. We're reading more than ever about international disputes over ownership and restitution, including allegations this week that Switzerland's largest art museum might be displaying up to 90 works with problematic provenances.
Also causing controversy recently are stories focusing on the origins – and the fate – of the Benin Bronzes, at least some of which are in the process of finding their way back to Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo from the many countries and museums to which their colonial rulers dispersed them, including Belgium, Germany, the British Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum.
Such histories of theft and rescue are made more than real in a powerful new exhibition at New York's Jewish Museum, Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art. And they are presented through treasures both artistic and cultural.
Photo: Franz Marc's The Large Blue Horses, 1911 (Collection Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis)
