FEATURE
110
FIG. 31 (left):
Headcrest of the Ngkpwe
warrior society. Bangwa,
Cameroon. 19th century.
This sculpture appears as
object 5 in Conrau’s letter
to von Luschan of June 11,
1899.
Wood, pigment, fabric. H: 33.4 cm.
Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1898
or 1899.
Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin, inv.
III C 10565.
Photo © Ethnologisches Museum
der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin -
Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
FIG. 32 (above):
Headcrest for the
Lefem society. Bangwa,
Cameroon. 19th century.
This sculpture is likely
object 1 in Conrau’s letter
to von Luschan of June 11,
1899, though this has yet
to be confi rmed.
Probably collected by Gustav
Conrau, 1898 or 1899.
Wood. H: 76 cm.
Lune Rouge Collection.
FIG. 33 (above, center):
Standing fi gure. Bangwa,
Cameroon. 19th century.
This sculpture appears as
object 2 in Conrau’s letter
to von Luschan of June 11,
1899.
Wood. H: 34 cm.
Collected by Gustav Conrau, 1898
or 1899.
Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin,
inv. III C 10522.
Photo © Ethnologisches Museum
der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin -
Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
have changed, in many ways for the better. New
symbols and new works of art have come to exist
and continue to be produced. And could it not
also be perceived as a source of satisfaction by a
small group of people from a remote mountain
area that the artworks their forebears produced
should be internationally recognized and valued?
NOTES
1. Seven fi gures from the Conrau Collection that were believed
to have been lost in World War Two came back into the
Berlin museum in 1990 after they were found in Leipzig (see
Höpfner 1993, quoted after Schlothauer 2015, p. 15f).
2. This can be ascertained by examining the old inventory
records. Inv.Nr. IIIC 10529 (a female fi gure) and IIIC 10518
(a fi gure of a king wearing a cap) have already been
identifi ed. Recently we were able to demonstrate that III
C 10544 is identical to a staff fi gure purchased by Kevin
Conru at a small auction in England and now in the Javier
Peres Collection in Berlin (Lintig, Tribal Art magazine,
Spring 2014). A sculpture in the Lune Rouge Collection
in Montreal bears great similarity to the III C 10513 entry
of the museum’s old inventory book, as evidenced by a
drawing (no. 1) in a letter by Conrau (ill. xx). This object
is no longer in the museum’s collection, but connection
between the Lune Rouge sculpture and Conrau hasn’t been
verifi ed yet.
3. Pascale Marthine Tayou, for example.
4. Globus, 77. 1900, 115.
5. Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde, Archiv für Geographie,
Nachlass Kurt Hassert, Conrau’s letters to Hassert, 201/45
and 201/46 (IfL-Leipzig).
6. For instance, Einleitung Fotoausstellung Bundesarchiv /
Goethe-Institut, “Was treiben die Deutschen in Afrika?”
(Deutschland/Kamerun) and Thiemeyer 2016, p. 33–45.
7. Links to various groups and projects may be found on
the Kolonialismus im Kasten website: https://www.
kolonialismusimkasten.de/.
8. As in note 4.
9. The German Department of Foreign Affairs gave permission
for the creation of the Barombi outpost near “Elephant
Lake” and construction began in January 1888. A lieutenant
and about 50 Kru and Vai porters from Liberia and Sierra
path from error to truth.”74 Exposing the sources
of the fl aws in radical nationalistic thinking would
have to begin with an understanding of the fundamental
errors in the concepts behind colonialism.
Circling back to the current conversation in
Germany that relates to the objects Conrau collected,
one must ask certain questions: Can the descendants
of the former owners of cult objects, for
which restitution claims are now sometimes being
made, still be identifi ed? Have they become too
distant from the material culture of their ancestors
for their claims to have weight? What would
happen to these objects if they were returned to
their places of origin? There are cases in which the
return of stolen objects is entirely justifi ed, but, although
they are surrounded by tragedy, Conrau
apparently did not steal the objects he collected.
More often than not, the restitution of objects represents
a step backward that does not and cannot
undo any injustices that were perpetrated. Times
/www
/kolonialismusimkasten.de