ArtCurious News This Week: July 8, 2022

July 8, 2022 Jennifer Dasal

Hi there, everyone. It’s Jennifer, your friendly art history podcast purveyor. And I wanted to try something new this summer. I’m going to be releasing short-form, super-casual episodes every Friday to share some of my favorite art history updates and interesting news tidbits. This is in addition to the ArtCurious episodes you know and love and gets you up to date on the latest goings-on in the realm of art history. So let me be your guide to this week in Art History.

This week’s stories:

Artnews: See The 500-Year-Old Frescoes Discovered During Restoration of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco

The Art Newspaper: ‘The Benin Bronzes are returning home’: Germany and Nigeria sign historic restitution agreement

The Art Newspaper: Constable painting rehung at National Gallery after protestors glue themselves to frame

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Episode Transcript

Today is Friday, July 8, 2022. And some of the stories I found most interesting this week are the following. First, I am so pleased to say that there is finally a negotiated restitution agreement between Germany and Nigeria for the return of the so-called “Benin Bronzes.” After decades of fights for the patrimony of thousands of objects that had been looted over a century ago from the royal palace of the west African nation of Benin, as well as parts of southern Nigeria. While the looting was purportedly done by British troops in 1897, the Benin Bronzes—which, go figure, aren’t all bronze, but also ivory and brass pieces—have made their way to hundreds of institutions around the world. According to the Art Newspaper, Germany is officially transferring ownership of more than 1,000 works back to Nigeria.

In a joint ceremony in Berlin announcing the repatriation agreement, the German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, proclaimed, quote, “The Benin bronzes are returning home… It was wrong to take the bronzes, and it was wrong to keep them for 120 years.” Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar, later tweeted his enthusiasm for the partnership, calling it a, quote, “New era in cultural diplomacy.” Two works of art have ceremonially been transferred at this point, and a timeline for the eventually return of the collection is forthcoming. But the two countries were also quick to note that not everything in German museums will head back to Nigeria and Benin, at least not immediately. The reason for this is a good one—the Nigerian government has allowed some works to remain on view in Germany on loan, an agreement that the German foreign ministry calls, quote, “a very special gesture of trust and amity.”

Germany is just the latest in line to repatriate their share of the Benin Bronzes. The Smithsonian in Washington D.C. agreed to the restitution of most of its Benin objects earlier this year. One can only hope that this is just the start for more museums and cultural centers to act similarly.

Next up, it’s not as great news, but it sure is interesting. Earlier this week, protestors from the Environmental group Just Stop Oil glued themselves—yes, glued themselves—to the frame of the very famous painting The Hay Wain by British artist John Constable, a painting on view at the National Gallery in London. The protestors did this, they say, in hopes that the British government would, quote, “end new oil and gas extraction and for art institutions to join themselves in civil resistance.” This is not the first work of art that activists have glued themselves to—and not even in the past week. Just a couple of days ago, as I record this, another group attached themselves to the frame of a copy of a painted scene of the Last Supper at the Royal Academy of Arts, also in London. Both of these incidents come only about a week after Just Stop Oil targeted works at the Courtauld Gallery in London, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, and the Manchester Art Gallery.

The Hay Wain, a pride of British painting, was removed after the detainment of the protestors and was reviewed by the National Gallery’s conservation team, where they noted some minor damage to the frame itself, as well as, quote, “some disruption to the surface of the varnish on the painting…which have now been successfully dealt with.” The disruption appears to have been caused by three sheets of paper that were inserted over the original canvas to showcase a, quote, “reimagined’ version of the Constable. In their statement about the protest, Just Stop Oil proclaimed, quote, “ The reimagined version carries a nightmare scene that demonstrates how oil will destroy our countryside. The river has gone, to be replaced by a road, airplanes fill the sky, pollution belches from cities on the horizon, trees are scorched by wildfires, an old car is dumped in front of the Mill and the famous Hay Wain cart carries an old washing machine.”

The Art Newspaper reports that, when asked about the group’s emphasis on museums for their protests, a Just Stop Oil spokesperson noted, quote, “We love our history and culture too much to just allow it all to be destroyed by the breakdown of our society. Young people's future is being burnt in front of their eyes, and it is the government pouring petrol on the flames. Supporters of Just Stop Oil will continue to peacefully disrupt whatever it takes until the government agrees to halt all new fossil fuel projects.”

Now, quick aside for my humble opinion. I am a pretty hippie-crunchy person when it comes to environmental stuff, so I’m all for protecting our planet. I’m also a fan of free speech. And as much as museums might hate to admit it—as I know, being a museum person myself—museums are not neutral spaces –heck, there’s a whole advocacy organization called Museums are Not Neutral, just because of this (and I highly recommend you check them out), I draw the line at involving actual works of art in a protest or disturbance. I don’t condone doing something that will harm a work of art, even in a minor way. And while I’m glad (I guess?) that the protestors glued themselves to the frames of works of art and not to the unglazed canvases or panels themselves, it’s still harmful to things that are hundreds of years old, items that are already somewhat fragile due to their age.

Okay, host rant over. As an art historian and a podcaster, I’m not neutral either. But if you want to know more about Constable and The Hay Wain, by the way, go back and listen to ArtCurious episode 36. It’s a good one, and one of my consistent favorites.

Let’s take a quick break for a sponsor and come right back to hear our last story for ArtCurious News this Week. Stay with me, folks.

Welcome back to ArtCurious, and our News this Week. I’m ending our episode today with some better news to finish out this week. Last week, visitors to the Palace of the principality of Monaco were able to view some recently restored frescoes that were discovered in 2015 while the palace underwent renovation. As reported by Artnet News, the Palace of Monaco was built in the 12th century and has been inhabited continuously by the Grimaldi Family—the principality’s reigning family—since the 13th century but given both the small size of Monaco and the shifting fortunes of the Grimaldis over time, their palace was not always considered to have a place next to the vast artistic and architectural monuments of other royal families, like the Romanovs or Hapsburgs. At the same time, though, they did decorate their long-beloved home as trends progressed, which explains their interest in hiring Italian artists—probably from Genoa—to create the frescoes, which represent allegorical and mythological scenes that were in vogue during the 16th century, their time of creation. All of this adds a level of cachet to the palace, and, one assumes, an even higher bracket of tourist interest. As the palace’s chief conservator, Julia Greiner, noted, quote, “This discovery places the Grimaldi family and Palace of Monaco within a new art historical context as a Renaissance palace.”

Thanks for listening to this new segment—our short-form news recaps—that will help round out our art historical knowledge here on ArtCurious. If you liked this episode, please let me know. You can hit me up on Facebook or Instagram (I’m quicker to respond on Insta, FYI) or email me at jennifer@artcuriouspodcast.com. We still have a couple of episodes left in Season 11, so stick with me for those, coming to your podcast provider very soon. And don’t forget—we’ve expanded to YouTube with some fun content about art that you cannot get here. So check us out—and until next week, stay curious.