Benin Bronzes Essay

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The Benin artworks were not just pieces of art but part of an oral tradition, which belonged to the people of Benin that contained African accounts that weren’t written about the ethnicity, culture or colonisation, they were “passed down through stories andobjects and art.” The people of Benin used this as visual record through the works of art,their society is a very complex culture and their plaques tell a documentary. Due to the circumstances of their removal and the important role which they play in African society and culture, some controversy surrounds the ownership of the Benin sculptures. One group believes that they should be returned to their original owners while the other believes that they should remain in museums. One of the critical adaptations to Benin artwork is how it is located in Museums around Europe, Benin art is not easily positioned into the category of art or anthropological. This is incredibly hard when the Benin artworks fit into both categories. One of the modifications that the modern movement did was to display art as “paintings in natural spaces with the works widely separated to aid uninterrupted aesthetic contemplation.” (Wood, 2008, p72) This was the variation between both the way artwork was presented traditionally and the way artefacts were arranged in ethnographic museums. The British museum has 56 plaques of Benin artworks that are displayed by the same approach as the Benin society had on posts. The British museum African Galleries tries to shift your attention from the Benin Bronzes as an ethnographic artefact “to the domain of art.” (Wood, 2008, p.73) The British museum used quite a traditional method in displaying a labelling the artworks of Benin. We can start to see the Benin artworks in their own right, not just as artefacts but also as works of art. This is authenticating that the Benin bronzes should exhibit

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