The Forgotten Movement to Reclaim Africa’s Stolen Art
A new book explores the first campaign to decolonize Europe’s museums—and exposes the conspiracy that smothered it.
via The New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-forgotten-movement-to-reclaim-africas-stolen-art
Only a handful of objects have actually been restituted, despite thousands of outstanding requests. Few governments have enacted general return policies. And some of the largest institutions, like the British Museum, have actively avoided the conversation. Could the West’s museums be waiting out the clock, making tactical concessions before reverting, at the stroke of midnight, to what Ishmael Reed once described as “Centers of Art Detention”? Quiet as it’s kept, they’ve done so before.