146
Who will go to the trouble to fi ght against
this? To object and let whoever will listen know
that justifying restitution to African countries by
comparing it to the restitution of material looted
by the Nazis is tantamount to comparing colonialism
to the Holocaust, and that is as inadmissible
as it is historically utterly false. As reprehensible
and unjustifi able as it may seem to us
today, who will dare say that colonialism does
not meet the legal criteria that would defi ne it as
a crime against humanity? Who will remember
that the majority of the works of classical African
art on the market today were sold after the
colonial period, as well as that those that did
come out during that time were for the most
part gifted, traded for, or purchased, and that
those that actually were looted represent only a
tiny fraction of the whole? Who will analyze the
obvious and much-touted role that Christianity
and, more recently, Islam played in the disappearance
of so-called pagan idols? Who will
take a hard look at the pitiful state to which museums
in Africa have been brought in the hands
of their directors or strive to understand the almost
complete absence of African collectors of
The Tides of History
or a Trend of the Times?
African art? And, fi nally, who will be willing
to grasp the history of mankind for what it is,
without adopting some moralistic and anachronistic
analysis or a false revisionist approach to
explaining it, even if it is well intended?
Since we appear intent on suing history to right
mistakes often made more than a hundred years
ago, we should at least try to understand the situation
without reducing it to a simplistic confrontation
between the forces of good and evil.
The polemics surrounding “restitution” to some
extent informed the demands formulated by the
Republic of Benin for the return of objects brought
back to France by General Alfred-Amédée Dodds
after his capture of the royal city of Abomey on
November 17, 1892. Given this, it seems obvious
that we should turn our attention to the history of
After the “No, that won’t be possible” reply
that France politely delivered to the Republic of
Benin in 2016 in response to a restitution demand
that had been made several months earlier (see
Tribal Art magazine, no. 84, p. 122), a paradigm
shift occurred due to another upheaval, this one
political.
It is diffi cult to understand why, but on November
28, 2017, during his fi rst visit to Africa,
newly elected President Emmanuel Macron
pronounced himself in favor of the restitution to
Africa of the African patrimony in France. This
position is entirely inconsistent with the longheld
principles of inalienability, imprescriptibility,
and non-seizability under which French museum
collections exist.
This declaration was dressed up with announcements
of “scientifi c” and “museological” partnerships.
Though the African patrimony in question
was partly veiled in improbable “temporary restitutions,”
the intent is clear:
Within fi ve years, I want the conditions to be in
place for the temporary or defi nitive restitution of
the African patrimony to Africa.
Questions about the conceptual or legal foundations
of such a move have been few and far
between since Macron made this statement. On
the contrary, a string of enthusiastic articles has
redundantly competed to support this line of
thought, though the similarities between them
show them to be manifestations of an established
and well-oiled propaganda machine. These have
included the most outrageous confl ations: colonialism,
slavery, crimes against humanity, Nazi
despoliation, punitive expeditions, blood objects
(akin to the blood diamonds proposed by
Irish geographer Hugo J. H. Lewis). All of the
wounds of history have been lumped together
and summoned to the High Mass of restitution.
There has been no attempt to explain or to prioritize
them, much less to differentiate between
them.
ART + law
FIG. 1 (RIGHT): Portrait of
General Dodds published in
Le Petit Journal, December
3, 1892.
Author’s archives.
Alfred Amédée Dodds was born in
Saint-Louis, Senegal, on February 6,
1842, of mixed race parents. He died in
Paris on July 17, 1922, after a successful
military career. Joining the naval infantry
when he left Saint-Cyr in 1862, he was
successively promoted captain (1869),
battalion commander (1878), colonel
(1887), brigadier general (1892), and
major general (1899). Distinguished
in all his commands, he was knighted
with the Legion of Honor in 1870,
Commander of the Legion of Honor in
1891, and Grand Cross of the Legion of
Honor in 1907.
Dodds was the last Afro-descended
member of the French army to have
been appointed to this rank and the only
Afro-descended general to have a street
in Paris named after him.
RESTITUTION:
By Yves-Bernard Debie