Blood and Bronze
Blood and Bronze

Author: Paddy Docherty

Publisher: Hurst Publishers

Published: 2021-12-09

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1787387550

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The Benin Bronzes are among the British Museum’s most prized possessions. Celebrated for their great beauty, they embody the history, myth and artistry of the ancient Kingdom of Benin, once West Africa’s most powerful, and today part of Nigeria. But despite the Bronzes’ renown, little has been written about the brutal imperial violence with which they were plundered. Paddy Docherty’s searing new history tells that story: the 1897 British invasion of Benin. Armed with shocking details discovered in the archives, Blood and Bronze sets this assault in its late Victorian context. As British power faced new commercial and strategic pressures elsewhere, it ruthlessly expanded in West Africa. Revealing both the extent of African resistance and previously concealed British outrages, this is a definitive account of the destruction of Benin. Laying bare the Empire’s true motives and violent means, including the official coverup of grotesque sexual crimes, Docherty demolishes any moral argument for Britain retaining the Bronzes, making a passionate case for their immediate repatriation to Nigeria.

Loot
Loot

Author: Barnaby Phillips

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2021-04-01

Total Pages: 527

ISBN-13: 1786079364

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A Prospect Best Book of 2021 ‘A fascinating and timely book.’ William Boyd ‘Gripping…a must read.’ FT ‘Compelling…humane, reasonable, and ultimately optimistic.’ Evening Standard ‘[A] valuable guide to a complex narrative.’ The Times In 1897, Britain sent a punitive expedition to the Kingdom of Benin, in what is today Nigeria, in retaliation for the killing of seven British officials and traders. British soldiers and sailors captured Benin, exiled its king and annexed the territory. They also made off with some of Africa’s greatest works of art. The ‘Benin Bronzes’ are now amongst the most admired and valuable artworks in the world. But seeing them in the British Museum today is, in the words of one Benin City artist, like ‘visiting relatives behind bars’. In a time of huge controversy about the legacy of empire, racial justice and the future of museums, what does the future hold for the Bronzes?

Benin, a Kingdom in Bronze
Benin, a Kingdom in Bronze

Author: Babacar M'Bow

Publisher: African American Research Library and Cultural Center

Published: 2005-01-01

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 9780977204106

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Benin: A Kingdom in Bronze is published with an exhibition of the same title presented by the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, September 2005.

Benin
Benin

Author: Kathleen Bickford Berzock

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13:

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In the late 15th century, the Kingdom of Benin (located in present-day southwestern Nigeria) established a mercantile relationship with Portugal, significantly increasing its wealth and might. Benin became a regional powerhouse and, under a long lineage of divine rulers, or obas, it wielded great economic and political influence. The obas also supported guilds of artists--chief among them brass casters and ivory carvers--whom they employed to produce objects that honored royal ancestors, recorded history, and glorified life at court. The sophisticated creations of Benin’s royal artists stand among the greatest works of African art. This stunning book features a selection of Benin’s extraordinary artworks that range from finely cast bronze figures, altar heads, and wall plaques to ivory tusks, pendants, and arm cuffs embellished in detailed bas relief. An insightful essay outlines the kingdom’s history and sheds light on these masterworks by describing their production and function in the context of the royal court.

Royal Art of Benin
Royal Art of Benin

Author: Kate Ezra

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0870996339

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Tantalizing trivia. this Hitler, spoiling everything?"

Benin Kings and Rituals
Benin Kings and Rituals

Author: Barbara Plankensteiner

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789053496268

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Edited by Barbara Plakensteiner. Foreword by O.J. Eboreime.

The Benin Plaques
The Benin Plaques

Author: Kathryn Wysocki Gunsch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-12-15

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1351254596

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The 16th century bronze plaques from the kingdom of Benin are among the most recognized masterpieces of African art, and yet many details of their commission and installation in the palace in Benin City, Nigeria, are little understood. The Benin Plaques, A 16th Century Imperial Monument is a detailed analysis of a corpus of nearly 850 bronze plaques that were installed in the court of the Benin kingdom at the moment of its greatest political power and geographic reach. By examining European accounts, Benin oral histories, and the physical evidence of the extant plaques, Gunsch is the first to propose an installation pattern for the series.

The Brutish Museums
The Brutish Museums

Author: Dan Hicks

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781786806833

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Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objectsare all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of BeninCity, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.

Daily Life in Ancient Benin
Daily Life in Ancient Benin

Author: Paul Mason

Publisher: Capstone

Published: 2015-08

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1484625803

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What was the "Forest Kingdom" of Benin? -- What was life like in ancient Benin? -- Did children have to go to school in ancient Benin? -- What kind of work did people do in ancient Benin? -- How did people trade goods in ancient Benin? -- What did people do for fun in ancient Benin? -- What religion did people follow in ancient Benin? -- How did the kingdom of Benin end? -- A day at the Igue festival.