Category: Art History Foundations: Art Prehistory to 1400s

This sculpture, known as the Bangwa Queen, is housed in the Dapper Foundation in Paris. It was gifted or stolen from the Bangwa grasslands region of what is now Cameroon by German colonial agent Gustav Conrau, then donated to Berlin’s Museum für Völkerkunde, purchased by American collector Harry A. Franklin in 1966, and sold by his daughter to the current possessor. A lawyer representing Bangwa king Don Fontem Asabaton and chief Fuatabong Achaleke says he’s written three times asking for information and dialogue over the Bangwa Queen sculpture, “‘We have received no substantive response, only requests for verification,’ Sullivan says. ‘As the party with power, resources and access to information, they have not given us the impression that they respect how meaningful these artifacts are to the community, nor that they intend to take us seriously.’”

Bangwa people fear most that the Bangwa sculpture will be auctioned off to a private collector and lost forever. The director of the Dapper Foundation, Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, says the organization has no intention of selling any items from its collection, “The Bangwa sculpture, like other works in the collection, will be part of international exhibitions,” she says. “The closure of the Paris building does not signal an end to the Dapper Foundation’s activities. In line with our mission for the past 30 years, we will mount exhibitions of ancient and contemporary art to give more visibility to the cultures of Africa and of its diasporas.” This justification that the art is for public appreciation is common. James Cuno believes it as he states in Culture War, “In an era of globalization that is nonetheless marked by resurgent nationalism and sectarianism, antiquities and their history should not be used to stoke such narrow identities. Instead, they should express the guiding principles of the world’s great museums: pluralism, diversity, and the idea that culture shouldn’t stop at borders” The popular discussion with the Parthenon Sculptures contains the same case with the British Museum saying that they “wholeheartedly committed to respectful collaboration worldwide, to sharing and lending the collection, and working in partnership for the benefit of the widest possible audience.”, according to the British Museum’s website

Is this argument enough to keep artwork from their original homelands? Is it enough to keep the Bangwa Queen in the Dapper Foundation’s hands? Or are organizations like the Dapper Foundation and the British Museum keeping the artwork from their homelands for their profit. Now of course some museums will say that they don’t profit off of these specific pieces, but are they not profiting by the popularity and attention it brings them? I would say they do. By keeping meaningful and famous pieces for themselves, they are recognizing the value the pieces have to the culture, while simultaneously rejecting the moral ties to that culture they claim to appreciate so much. It’s not for any museum to decide what is best for the public if that means disrespecting the culture where their art is from. The Bangwa Queen, along with all the other once stolen artifacts should be returned to their origin upon request. By keeping meaningful and famous pieces for themselves, they are recognizing the value the pieces have to the culture, while simultaneously rejecting the moral ties to that culture they claim to appreciate so much.

Citations:

Catherine Hickley, C. (2018, January 12). Paris’s Dapper Foundation stalls talks 

     over Cameroonian sculpture. The Art Newspaper. Retrieved March 23, 2024, 

     from https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2018/01/12/ 

     pariss-dapper-foundation-stalls-talks-over-cameroonian-sculpture

Cuno, J. (2014, December). Culture war. Foreign Affairs. Retrieved March 23, 

     2024, from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/africa/ 

     culture-war?utm_medium… 1 of 14 10/7/21, 8:28 AM

The British Museum. (n.d.). The parthenon sculptures. The British Museum. 

     Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/ 

     british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/parthenon-sculptures

Greenberger, A. (2024, February 20). Looting, plundering, and more: 20 cultural 

     treasures that have faced claims of theft. Art News. Retrieved March 23, 

     2024, from https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/ 

     most-important-looted-plundered-works-1234584727/ 

     senegal-sword-france-return-museum-of-black-civilizations/

Throughout history, religions have often used depictions of deities to visually represent their beliefs and values. Most of which have visuals containing realistic humanistic figures, others have symbols to represent their deities and/or their teachings. Take Buddhism in the third century BC; They decided to use symbols to represent Siddhartha Gautama because they thought he had transcended his physical body. These symbols include his footprints which represent Siddhartha Gautama leaving the palace and renouncing worldly goods, the wheel of law that represents him and his preachings, and a linden tree where he is said to find enlightenment. You can view such symbols on toranas and other ancient buddhist architecture. This culture among many others predominantly dedicated buildings to showcase art of their deities and the importance of these ideas to the community. 

As time progressed, attitudes towards one’s relationship with religion have changed in the United States. Take Christianity, instead of building large gothic cathedrals, we build more modern simpler buildings that can be changed to serve a new purpose if needed. We also use simple religious symbols, like the cross, to wear as jewelry. It’s also more common for this form of representation of deities because of mass production. Even if these religions didn’t have this reasoning behind their depictions of their deities, they still benefit from their easy marketing abilities. But despite society missing grand architecture and beautiful realistic depictions of one’s deities, having simplistic jewelry enables intimate and individualized connections to religious beliefs and values that are more easily able to spread around the world.

The manuscript is a P to stand for Pactrclous, an overlooked character in Achilles. His moment of truth lies when Achillies is too stubborn to fight. Pactrouclous puts on Achilles’ armor and pretends to be him so the men follow his lead into battle. Pactroclous then dies a hero. 

Like many manuscripts this story is told through pictures. These illustrations lie on the outskirts of the border. The frames of the pictures are circular with a golden background. This is a memento to golden hellos you see in other artwork from this time period. This symbol was expressed on religious people, people who were often considered more significant. By keeping that same symbol in this manuscript, it gives Patroclus a sense of significance or glory that he rightly deserves.

Gold isn’t the only color that adds to the manuscript theme. Blue and red were often used in manuscripts as well. Since titles weren’t distinguishable from their font size they used color to differentiate instead. Red was what jumped out of the page at you when reading, so making manuscripts in red was common. That’s why in this manuscript you’ll see red used in the very center. 

The red section of the P also adds a new unique element of shape to the letter that normally wouldn’t be there today. The letter’s thickness is also displaying aspects of manuscripts in the Middle Ages. The thickness emphasized in the down strokes was the only option due to their writing utensils available. The letter is also embellished with random circular shapes along with foliage details. Drawings of flowers and other plants were often used in manuscripts and inspired me to implement them in mine. These particular plants slightly represent laurel wreaths which goes along with the ancient Greek theme.