Content area
Full Text
The violence in Benin in 1897 was exceptional even by imperialist standards. Following stories of human sacrifices, the killing of members of a British delegation, and the resulting "punitive expedition," Benin was tagged "the City of Blood." Both sides were swathed in brutality. Yet, the kingdom was but a small prize in the rivalry among European powers: within a couple of years the whole of Nigeria would become a Protectorate of the British Empire. Culturally, however, the conquest was a watershed event. The treasures seized by British soldiers soon became the most highly prized of all African art, their value undiminished to this day (Figs. 3, 4). In Europe the quality of the plunder was celebrated as unprecedented, and the new veneration of Benin art overshadowed the violence surrounding its use and the events of 1897. What was the impact of these artworks on Western images of Africa and on Western aesthetics in general? Did they play a role in the Primitivist-Modernist revolution? How are we to explain that this artistic transformation took place at the zenith of imperialism, when social Darwinism was the prevailing ideology? And finally, what is the likelihood that these treasures will be returned to Nigeria?
The Language of Evolution
In Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, African and Pacific artworks were regarded as ethnographic curiosities. Aesthetic appreciation was implied but rarely stated. Art critic Owen Jones was among the few writers who approached what was then called "savage" art from an aesthetic viewpoint. He regarded the "ornament of savage tribes" as the evolutionary source of the arts, comparing it to children's art. Yet he praised its excellence and judged its various examples to "rival the works of the highest civilizations" and to exhibit the "most refined taste and skills."1 Jones admired these artists' affinity with nature, an affinity which "civilized" peoples lacked. He hoped modern art "would return to a more healthy condition...we must get rid of the acquired and artificial, and return to and develop natural instincts" (in Jacknis 1976:109).
The roots of the Primitivist art movement in England included the PreRaphaelites, the debate between Ruskin and Whistler, Japonisime, and William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Revival. This movement, as well as others in Britain, engaged...