Biafran War Loots Up For Sale at Christie's this Month

[Chika Okeke-Agulu]

Wall plaque, Edo Kingdom

On June 28, 2020, Christie's, reputedly the world’s premier auction house will have a sale of art from Africa, Oceania and North America. I raise my voice against this sale. As the magazine Quartz has just reported, major auction houses are exploiting the COVID-19 crisis to sell art objects from Africa that are part of colonial-era looting of the continent’s cultural heritage. Among the Christies lot, for instance, is one copper alloy plaque (above) that must have been among the looted objects from the Benin palace. It is shameful that any self-respecting auction house is still involved in the sale of royal Benin objects from that 1897 rape of the palace by British soldiers

Alusi figures from Nri-Awka area, Eastern Nigeria

But here is what I find even more vexing about Christie's sale. 

In a 2017 op-ed article in the New York Times, I wrote about widespread looting of art from Eastern Nigeria during the Biafran War (1967-70), and that my mother still mourns the overnight disappearance of countless sculptures from communal shrines in my hometown, Umuoji, in Anambra State. These art raids from all indications were sponsored by dealers and their client collectors mostly based in Europe and the US. So, apart from the royal Benin wall plaque, the June Christie's auction includes two impressive alusi (sacred sculptures, above; sale estimate: 250-350 thousand euros) said to have been acquired in 1968-69 in situ by Jacques Kerchache (1942-2001). That is, Mr. Kerchache acquired these sculptures in the Nri-Awka area (a half-hour drive from my hometown) during the darkest years of the Biafran War.  

Dear Christie's, let’s be clear about the provenance of these sculptures you want to sell. While between 500,000 and three million civilians, including babies like me, were dying in the thousands of kwashiorkor and starvation inside Biafra; and while young French doctors were in the war zone establishing what we now know as Doctors Without Borders, their compatriot, Mr. Kerchache, went there to buy up my people’s cultural heritage, including the two sculptures you are now offering for sale. I write this so no one, including Christie's and any potential buyer of these loots from Biafra can claim ignorance of their true provenance. These artworks are stained with the blood of Biafra’s children. Caveat Emptor!

[Emeagwali, Gloria (History)]

This  information sheds light on an issue that many of us were not fully  aware of. We know of the systematic  looting of African artifacts during the Battle of Magdala in 1868, and  after 1885, during the later colonial invasions.

 We know  of the thousands of African artifacts in the jam -packed  European museums of Italy, France, Belgium,Germany, Britain etc.- many of which were illegally acquired.

Chika, sheds light on looting during the Biafra war and the planned “illegal sales” of Eastern Nigerian artifacts by Christie’s. Thanks for sharing.

The Nigerian government should take a stance on this.

Another issue to note is that in the era of Covid19  some of these museums in the West may go completely virtual and we have to explore

the implications for the whereabouts and value of African artifacts. A conference on African artifacts in the era of Covid19 will be helpful.

https://vimeo.com/334273387

Benin artifacts in the British Museum 

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU

---

From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Chika Okeke-Agulu <okeke...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2020 9:35 AM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Biafran War Loots Up For Sale at Christie's this Month

 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDial...@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/87c60924-de2c-4a40-91c7-2d7c5730586do%40googlegroups.com.