The Brutish Museums

The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution

Author: Dan Hicks

Read by: Ben Onwukwe

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At a Glance

Format
Digital Audiobook

Duration
11:11.54

Published: 20th August 2022

Digital Audiobook

$69.99

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New York Times 'Best Art Books' 2020

'Essential' - Sunday Times

'Brilliantly enraged' - New York Review of Books

'A real game-changer'- Economist

Walk into any Western 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 objects are all stolen.

Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of metal plaques and sculptures depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of Benin City, 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 Brutish Museums sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. Since its first publication, museums across the western world have begun to return their Bronzes to Nigeria, heralding a new era in the way we understand the collections of empire we once took for granted.

This audiobook edition, beautifully narrated by actor Ben Onwukwe, is a perfect choice for learning on the go.