Can an English artist use classical Nigerian art as he likes?

by KWAME OPUKU

PHOTO/Damien Hirst

The insensitivity of many Westerners in the question of looted artefacts or artefacts acquired under dubious circumstances is astonishing. Hirst and other Western artists can derive inspiration from the looted artefacts kept in Western museums, which they can visit anytime they want. But where can African artists derive such inspiration when iconic African objects are all kept away in Western capitals they can’t visit?

‘For, not content with being a racial slanderer, one who did not hesitate to denigrate, in such uncompromisingly nihilistic terms, the ancestral fount of the black races – a belief which this ethnologist himself observed – Frobenius was also a notorious plunderer, one of a long line of European archaeological raiders. The museums of Europe testify to this insatiable lust of Europe, the frustrations of the Ministries of Culture of the Third World and of organizations like UNESCO are a continuing testimony to the tenacity, even recidivist nature of your routine receiver of stolen goods.’ Wole Soyinka – Nobel Lecture. [1]

There have been some very strong reactions, mainly on the part of Nigerians and other Africans, on the use/misuse, appropriation/misappropriation by the English artist, Damien Hirst, of the image of the famous Nigerian sculpture, the bronze head from Ife, Olokun, in his current exhibition at Venice, entitled ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable

On the left is the cast brass head, Ori Olokun, an Ife head, in British Museum and on the right the sculpture by Damien Hirst, which he calls Golden Heads (Female).

Many have accused the English artist of copying Nigerian art; some said he had stolen Nigerian culture; and others accused him of plagiarizing Yoruba art. He has been called a thief, daylight robber, and many other names. [2] Very strong reactions came from the Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor and the Nigerian painter Laolu Senbanjo.

For the first time, Nigeria is represented at Venice Biennale by the painter Victor Ehikhamenor, sculptor Peju Alatise and performance artiste Qudus Onikeku.

We reproduce in an annex below Laolu Senbanjo’s letter addressed to Damien Hirst because it discusses many aspects of the issues involved and deserves to be read by all. [3]

Damien Hirst is by no means the first European to have copied African art or, if you prefer, to have let himself be ‘inspired’ by African art. The great Pablo Picasso is a well-known example of Western artists benefitting from such inspiration as well as a whole lot of modern artists, the so-called avantgarde, Fernand Leger, Kirchner, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Max Ernst, Constantin Brancusi, Amedeo Modigliani, Miro, Armand, etc. This ‘inspiration’ has been well discussed in several exhibitions and in the well-known book by William Rubin, Primitivism in 20th Century Art (1984).


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