…. the more they stay the same. At least, that was the thought that came to mind this afternoon.
I like to read Apollo magazine. Some might consider that this is way out of my league, as its primary clientele appears to be people in the art business–gallery proprietors, collectors and so on. Even so, i find it serves several important functions, filling in important gaps in my knowledge of art history, and raising my gaze above the level of what passes for art in this country. Also, it draws my attention regularly to media in which I would not normally take an interest, such as ceramics or calligraphy. As they say, it “broadens the mind”.
I am struck by the current enormous expansion of interest in Oriental and African art. The age of empire clearly is not past. It is merely perpetuated in another form. The other night we joined friends for celebrations of the national independence days of Antigua and Nigeria. Indeed, these events are worth celebrating, but reflecting on the content of Apollo it does appear that “empire” goes on, although at a different level, and in a different form. The “collectors” are (for the most part) to be found in the old imperial countries, and the power of the market means that their former colonies are helpless when it comes to preventing the drain of their cultural heritage into the big collections. We celebrated Nigerian independence the other night, but Apollo informs me that great Nigerian wood-carvings are earning very good prices in London …. and the sellers are not native Nigerians either.
It is easy to contemplate the kind of restitution which large European museums are practising these days, restoring to their former homes what can only be described as colonial loot. Where the agency for the redistribution of this kind of resource is not daylight robbery but the “legitimate” market, it is hard to see how “art colonialism” might be countered.
*Don’t forget Barbuda! Let’s hear it for Barbuda!