Restitution: The Return of Cultural Artefacts

By Alexander Herman

Debates about the restitution of cultural objects have been ongoing for many decades, but have acquired a new urgency recently with the intensification of scrutiny of European museum collections acquired in the colonial period. Alexander Herman's fascinating and accessible book provides an up-to-date overview of the restitution debate with reference to a wide range of current controversies. This is a book about the return of cultural treasures: why it is demanded, how it is negotiated, and where it might lead. This debate forces us to confront an often dark history, and the difficult application of our contemporary conceptions of justice to instances from the past. Should we allow plundered artefacts to rest where they lie—often residing there by the imbalances of history? This book asks whether we are entering a new 'restitution paradigm,' one that could have an indelible impact on the cultural sector—and the rest of the world—for many years to come. It provides essential reading for all those working in the art and museum worlds and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lund Humphries
• Release date: Sep 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781848225381

Alexander Herman

Alexander Herman studied at Trinity College Dublin and McGill University. His writing has appeared in both print and online publications. He lives in Montreal.

Book preview

Front Cover of RestitutionHalf Title of Restitution

Hot Topics In The Art World

Published in association with Sotheby’s Institute of Art

Series Editors

Jeffrey Boloten and Juliet Hacking, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London

This series of short, thought-provoking and sometimes controversial books debates key issues of current relevance to art-world professionals working in both the private and public sectors. The texts give wider visibility to some critical areas of professional art-world practice, considering what disruptors are challenging the status quo and how the art world is likely to be transformed over the next decades as a result.

International Series Advisory Board

Georgina Adam, journalist, author and art market Editor-at-Large of The Art Newspaper

Alia Al-Senussi, cultural strategist, patron, academic and lecturer

Touria El Glaoui, Founding Director of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair (London – New-York – Marrakech)

Jos Hackforth-Jones, former CEO and Director of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London

Louise Hamlin, Director of the Art Business Conference (London – New York – Shanghai)

Llucià Homs, Director of Talking Galleries, Barcelona

Zehra Jumabhoy, academic, critic and curator

Julie Lomax, CEO at a-n, The Artists Information Company, UK

Franklin Sirmans, Director of the Pérez Art Museum, Miami

Philip Tinari, Director and CEO of the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

Book Title of Restitution

First published in 2021 by Lund Humphries

in association with Sotheby’s Institute of Art

Lund Humphries

Office 3, Book House

261A City Road

London EC1V 1JX

UK

www.lundhumphries.com

Restitution: The Return of Cultural Artefacts © Alexander Herman, 2021 All rights reserved

ISBN (hardback): 978-1-84822-536-7

ISBN (eBook Mobi): 978-1-84822-537-4

ISBN (eBook PDF): 978-1-84822-538-1

ISBN (eBook ePub): 978-1-84822-539-8

A Cataloguing-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise, without first seeking the permission of the copyright owners and publishers. Every effort has been made to seek permission to reproduce the images in this book. Any omissions are entirely unintentional, and details should be addressed to the publishers.

Alexander Herman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this Work.

Copy edited by Michela Parkin

Designed by Crow Books

Set in Caslon Pro and Sofia Pro

Printed in Estonia

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1The never-ending dispute: The Parthenon Marbles

2Models for return: Repatriation of indigenous material

3Legacies of conflict: Museums and imperial violence

4The 75-year shadow: Restitution of art looted during the Holocaust

5Stopping traffic: Ending the illicit artefact trade

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Foreword

At a time when matters of justice dominate public discourse, restitution is both a social and a cultural hot topic. Restitution is the return of cultural artefacts to their rightful custodians. This act of return is about equity, not necessarily within a legal framework but within an ethical one (and often in relation to historical injustices). Restitution can equally apply to artefacts in the possession of traffickers of illicit antiquities or to those held by renowned museums, galleries and other cultural institutions whose prestige relies in part upon their holdings of significant, rare objects.

In this meticulously researched book, Alexander Herman traces key contemporary and historical examples shaping a new paradigm for restitution. He weaves his wide-ranging examples (European governments making pledges to repatriate the cultural heritage of their former colonies, the return of possessions seized by the National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s and 40s, the claims made upon cultural treasures held in foreign museums by countries of origin, the indigenous objects that have been appropriated by settler institutions, and the international trade in antiquities that acts as an incentive to looting) into a compelling narrative that deftly exposes the political, ethnic and cultural sensitivities at stake in the claim for restitution. His unique insight as a specialist in art law and his global view of the subject allows him to expertly tease out for the reader what can be learnt from these case studies when seeking to achieve equity in the present moment. Restitution engagingly introduces its readers to the complex issues at stake in the highly-charged acts of cultural claim, counter-claim and return.

Jeffrey Boloten and Juliet Hacking, July 2021

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank those who have offered insight and commentary in relation to the text and the underlying ideas expressed herein: Dr Jacques Schuhmacher, Emily Gould, Jacquetta Swift, Eyob Derillo, Juanita Johnston, Katerina Vagia, Stratos Lampousis, Elena Lampousis and, of course, my wife Dr Ana-Maria Herman. Any errors remain entirely my own.

Introduction

Change is in the air. The past, it seems, is back with a vengeance. The last several years have seen countries shift their stance in favour of policies that seek to do justice for wrongs committed in the distant past. We have seen this with regard to the legacy of slavery, the removal from public view of statues of slavers and Confederate Generals, the lingering questions over historical genocides and the seemingly ongoing impact of colonialism. And, most importantly for our purposes, we have seen it in the way Western countries are beginning to give serious consideration to the return of cultural treasures taken from conquered territories, former colonies, subjugated peoples and the developing world – in a word, to provide restitution.

‘Restitution’ is a term denoting the return of cultural material to an individual, group or nation with the overall aim of doing justice for a past or ongoing wrong. In this context it is not, strictly speaking, a legal term, though it does evoke notions of justice, equity and fairness. Every claim for return, no matter how compelling or frivolous, ultimately seeks redress for a wrong that was committed. That wrong may be difficult to prove for factual or ethical reasons, and herein lies the problem. One person’s intensely felt hurt may be another’s distant memory. One community’s icon of identity may be another’s keenly held property. And attempts to address historical wrongs – as well meaning as they may be – might create practical complications in the present.

In some ways, restitution is already taking place around us. At an ever-increasing rate, the international community is engaged in the fight against the illicit trade in antiquities, while customs and law enforcement agents work to seize trafficked goods and return them to their countries of origin. The first months of 2021 saw a proliferation of major announcements of cultural items being returned. This was a logical continuation of what had already been taking place before the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019 alone thousands of artefacts were sent back: from Italy and Turkey to China, from France and Guatemala to Peru, from Belgium and the Netherlands to Cyprus, from Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Iraq, and from the United States to Egypt, among many others.¹ Even during lockdown, actions continued, like the major raid in May 2020 of an antiquities trafficking ring that stretched from Afghanistan to Argentina, for which there have been over 100 arrests and 300 investigations, with a planned restitution of some 19,000 objects.² Returns on such a scale, and with such an international scope, were simply not happening ten years ago. These actions impact the trade in cultural objects – both lawful and unlawful – prompting art dealers, auction houses and collectors to ask serious ethical questions about their acquisition practices.

Restitution gets more complicated when we consider items held in Western museums. In many cases, these objects have been in collections for years, sometimes for well over a century. Some might be of great cultural, even financial, value to the museums and the nations that house them, who may be unwilling to give them up. But what happens if a particular item proves to be of cultural or spiritual importance to a country or community of origin? Is it fair for the current possessor to rely on the protection of the law, the status quo, the significant passage of time since the original removal, the mission of museums to care for and preserve an object in perpetuity and the approach of ‘leaving well enough alone’? Or are the walls of the citadel starting to shake?

The first indication of a shift came in a speech given by French President Emmanuel Macron in November 2017 at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, West Africa. In the speech, delivered six months after becoming President, Macron outlined a vision for future collaboration between France and the francophone countries of Africa, covering topics as wide-ranging as their common language and sport, with an appeal at