Treasures in Trusted Hand Negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects

241 Pages·2016·2.4 MB·English

Treasures in Trusted Hands - Full manuscript - September 2016 - ©Jos van Beurden

VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT

Treasures in Trusted Hand
Negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects

ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT

ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan
de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,
op gezag van de rector magnificus
prof.dr. V. Subramaniam,
in het openbaar te verdedigen
ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie
van de Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen
op woensdag 30 november 2016 om 9.45 uur
in de aula van de universiteit,
De Boelelaan 1105

door
Joseph Maria van Beurden
geboren te Rotterdam

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Treasures in Trusted Hands - Full manuscript - September 2016 - ©Jos van Beurden

promoteren: prof. dr. S. Legêne
prof. dr. W. Veraart

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Table of contents

Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
About this book…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….7
Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………………..9

Part I Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………….11
Chapter 1 A neglected issue in an evolving world…………………………………………………….12
1.1. Decisive experiences……………………………………………………………………..12
1.2. Changes that matter……………………………………………………………………..14
Box: Incidental returns of colonial cultural objects
1.3. Main questions and approaches…………………………………………………….20
Chapter 2 On colonial cultural objects………………………………………………………………………24
2.1. Return……………………………………………………………………………………………24
2.2. Cultural objects……………………………………………………………………………..25
2.3. Typology of colonial cultural objects……………………………………………..30
2.3.1. Gifts to colonial administrators and institutions…………………………….31
2.3.2. Objects acquired during private expeditions………………………………….31
2.3.3. Objects acquired during military expeditions…………………………………32
2.3.4. Missionary collecting……………………………………………………………………..33
2.3.5. Archives…………………………………………………………………………………………35
Box: Archives back to Suriname

Part II Colonialism and cultural objects………………………………………………………38
Chapter 3 Colonial expansion……………………………………………………………………………………39
3.1. Early migration of objects to Europe………………………………………………40
Box: War booty during colonial expansion and its present whereabouts
3.2. Meagre protection…………………………………………………………………………44
Chapter 4 Settler and exploitation colonialism…………………………………………………………46
4.1. Peak in migration of objects ………………………………………………………….46
Box: Ancient Indonesian gifts dispersed
Box: Relocating to preserve better: From Papua New Guinea to Australia
Box: Cyprus and Dun Huang expeditions
Box: War booty during settler and exploitation colonialism
4.2. Protection and preservation measures…………………………………………..57
Chapter 5 Decolonisation, the first claims and the ongoing seepage of objects……….60
5.1. Whimsicalities in collecting…………………………………………………………….61
Box: Two contestable expeditions
Box: Examples of loot and arson/punitive expeditions during decolonisation
5.2. Early calls for return……………………………………………………………………….65
Box: (Pre-)independence returns
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5.3. Drain of cultural objects before and after independence………………67
Box: Turkey and tainted objects
Box: China and tainted objects
5.4. Decolonisation an unresolved conflict…………………………………………..70
Box: Five generations of conflict researchers, a critical view

Part III Colonial cultural objects and the law……………………………………………..75
Chapter 6. Increasing protection?..................................................................................76
6.1. Hard law international instruments……………………………………………….76
Box: The relevance of two conventions
Box: Cases dealt with by the ICPRCP
6.2. Soft law international instruments………………………………………………..81
6.2.1. Instruments for the repatriation of human remains……………………..81
Box: Incidental returns of colonial human remains
Box: Return refusals for colonial human remains
Box: Successful repatriation of Maori heads
6.2.2. Instruments for the restitution of Nazi-looted art…………………………86
Box: Four soft law instruments for dealing with Nazi-looted art
Box: Principles for dealing with colonial cultural and historical objects
Box: Overlap Second World War-looted and colonial cultural objects
6.2.3. A human rights and a justice perspective……………………………………..92

Part IV Ambiguities between the Netherlands and Indonesia……………..98
Chapter 7 The 1975 Joint Recommendations……………………………………………………………99
7.1. Cultural heritage policy until 1949…………………………………………………99
7.2. Negotiations between 1949 and 1975…………………………………………101
Box: Papua culture in safety
Box: Early returns to Indonesia
7.3. Towards an agreement.………………………………………………………………112
Box: Luwu insignia
7.4. Dynamics of the agreement’s implementation……………………………117
Appendix: Joint Recommendations by the Dutch and Indonesian Team of
Experts, concerning Cultural Cooperation in the field of Museums and archives
including Transfer of Objects…………………………………………………………..122
Chapter 8 New insights into the Joint Recommendations…………………………………….125
8.1. New research findings………………………………………………………………..125
Box: Thomas Raffles and Indonesia’s heritage
Box: Return of Diponegoro’s pilgrim’s staff
Box: Evidence of migration of objects in the first period
Box: The missing kris of Diponegoro
8.2. The 1975 agreement: lessons for other bilateral negotiations……131
Box: Returns to Indonesia 1949 - 1978

Part V Approaches in other bilateral agreements…………………………………142
Chapter 9 The 1970 agreement between Belgium and Congo……………………………….143
9.1 Cultural policies up to independence………………………………………….144
Box: Lucien Cahen, director with two hats
9.2 Deliberations and transfer of objects………………………………………….146
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Box: Repatriations and gifts to Congo
Chapter 10 Nordic model for Denmark, Iceland and Greenland?..............................150
10.1. Scandinavian colonialism……………………………………………………………150
10.2. Danish colonial collecting……………………………………………………………153
Box: Cultural objects from non-Scandinavian colonies
10.3. Ancient sagas back to Iceland……………………………………………………..155
Box: Repatriation by Denmark to Faroe Islands
10.4 Peculiar agreement with Greenland…………………………………………...157
Chapter 11. Melanesian model for Australia and Papua New Guinea?......................161
11.1. Colonial collecting in Papua New Guinea…………………………………….162
Box: Papua New Guinean objects in foreign museums
11.2. The process of return………………………………………………………………….165
Box: Returns to Papua New Guinea
Chapter 12. The Benin Dialogue (2010 - ….)………………………………………………………………170
12.1. Dispersal over Europe and North America…………………………………..171
Box: Benin treasures in the Netherland
12.2. Prelude to the dialogue……………………………………………………………….173
Box: Return requests between 1972 and 2008
Box: Returns between 1937 and 2014
12.3. The dialogue………………………………………………………………………………..175
12.4. Elements for the model……………………………………………………………….177
Appendix: Benin Plan of Action………………………………………………………..181

Part VI New insights, a new approach……………………………………………………….184
Chapter 13 The neglected effect of colonialism………………………………………………………..185
13.1. Towards an overview of the colonial one-way traffic………………….185
13.2. Overview of returns so far…………………………………………………………..189
Box: Two return offers rejected
13.3. Returns and other categories of contested objects…………………….192
Chapter 14 Model for negotiating the future of colonial cultural objects……………….194
14.1. The seven phases……………………………………………………………………….194
14.2. The four general guidelines………………………………………………………..198
Box: Phases and General guidelines for negotiating the future of colonial
cultural objects

Sources……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….204

Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………231
Samenvatting……………………………………………………………………………………………………………236

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Preface

Thirty years ago I met a poetess. Me’aza made poems about her dream - self-determination
for her country and the whole of Africa. She knew them by heart, had never written down a
single line and made new verses on the spot. People loved Me’aza. I met her in the eroded
mountains of Northeast Africa, her hamlet under control of rebels. We had walked all night,
as it had been too cold to lie down and sleep. The double local whiskey that she offered us at
six in the morning was in more than one sense heart-warming. I estimated her age between
60 and 70. When I asked how old she was, Me’aza answered that she was four! Four? Yes,
four! How come? ‘Four years ago I really started my life. I became aware of what was going
on in the world. I began to make poetry. So it was then, that I was born.’ At the age of four,
one watches the world as something not-yet-known and to be conquered, threatening and
thrilling. One is explorer, open-minded, self-confident and naive.
I am now of the same age as the poetess then and have a dream too. On top of a
round table stands a cultural object, acquired in the European colonial era and far removed
from its place of origin. Around it sit its major stakeholders. They talk about their
involvement with the object and help to compose its biography. The exchange can be tough,
but in the end they jointly decide about the object’s future and choose where the object
should be in trusted hands.
Four years ago I began an academic project, picking up the subject of what to do with
treasures that had left their country of origin for far-flung destinations during the European
colonial era. Until then I had studied the illicit trade in art and antiques from vulnerable
countries to art market regions and had begun to understand the mechanisms of the trade
and its local variations. A lot of sad news came out of it. To focus on return would enable me
to keep studying the same subject from a more constructive angle.
At the start, I did not realise how much the new research would turn upside down my
insights into how one can deal with contested cultural heritage. I felt four years old, making
a new world my own. Unlike the poetess, I have written down my lines. Nor have I been
under control from rebels or anyone else. I am solely responsible for the contents of this
book, but like Me’aza, I welcome you to take my lines to you. Hopefully they are heart-
warming.

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About this book

This study is the result of a fascination with the fate of the material cultural heritage of
mostly vulnerable countries. The large-scale presence of cultural and historical objects in
public and private collections in the countries of the former European colonisers raises
serious questions. I discovered that my own country, the Netherlands, returned a few
colonial cultural objects to Indonesia in the 1970s, but after this nothing had happened, even
though Indonesia and other former colonies had been outspoken about their longing for
such objects.
Whether anything can and should be done to change the maldistribution is the subject of
this study. It charts and analyses the disappearance of cultural objects from their places-of-
origin during the European colonial era and the returns that have taken place in order to
develop a model for negotiating the future of such objects.

The study consists of six parts.
Part I, Introduction, explains why the future of colonial cultural objects is a pertinent subject
and introduces the three main questions of this book. The ‘how’ of the answers - research
methodology, use of sources, etc. - is presented. Frequently used concepts are described. A
typology of colonial cultural objects is offered.
Part II, Colonialism and cultural objects, aims at an overview of the disappearance of cultural
objects during different periods of European colonialism. It defines decolonisation as an
unresolved conflict and colonial cultural objects as a major, be it underexposed, element in
this conflict.
Part III, Colonial cultural objects and the law, considers legal and protection measures taken
in the colonial era and thereafter. It lists the first return claims by former colonies. A
comparison is made with colonial human remains and Nazi-looted art. The 1998 Washington
Conference Principles for Dealing with Nazi-looted art are translated into principles for
dealing with colonial cultural and historical objects.
Part IV is a case-study of the Netherlands and Indonesia. It analyses in two steps the
ambiguities in the negotiations in the 1970s between the two countries for new cultural
relations and the return of objects. The first step is based on contemporary archives and
documents. The second is a complement to the first with insights of recent research. Based
on this, elements are sought that can become part of a model for negotiating the future of
colonial cultural objects.
To map the one-way traffic of objects better and find more elements for the model, Part V
offers case-studies of other negotiations for bilateral agreements in the 1970s and 1980s -
that between Belgium and Congo, between Denmark and Iceland and Denmark and
Greenland, and between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The on-going dialogue between
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Nigeria and some Western museums about the Benin objects in their possession is also
included.
Part VI, New insights, a new approach, answers the three main questions and presents a
model with seven phases and four general guidelines for negotiating the future of colonial
cultural objects.

Keywords Australia, Belgium, booty, collecting, colonialism, objects, colonial human
remains, conflict studies, cultural heritage, decolonisation, Denmark, DR Congo, Europe, gift,
Greenland, history, Iceland, iconoclasm, Indonesia, legal studies, Nazi-looted art, the
Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, restitution, return.

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Acknowledgements

I am greatly indebted to many people in the academic world and heritage sector. I mention
specifically Rogier Bedaux, Evelien Campfens, Peter Carey, Katja Lubina, Silvie Memel Kassi,
Zuozhen Liu, Wim Manuhutu, Adriana Munoz, Wayne Modest, Francis Musonda, Lyndel
Prott, Barbara Plankensteiner, Bambang Purwanto, Hildegard Schneider, Samuel Sidibé, Jim
Specht, Harm Stevens, Hasti Tarekat, Sarah Van Beurden, and Boris Wastiau. Others occur in
various chapters or unfortunately remain unmentioned. Your readiness and time over the
years have inspired me and helped to develop my thoughts. I have built on many of your
suggestions, documentation and questions. Jill Bradley, who has improved my English, has
been very helpful. A major thanks to all of you.
I am also grateful to my children, my family and in-laws, my friends, neighbours and other
people close by who gave moral support or showed interest into the topic. It has
strengthened our bonds.
A special word of thanks is due to my supervisors. First of all chief supervisor, Prof. Dr. Susan
Legêne. From the start you were enthusiastic about my topic. You helped me in the
transition from research journalist into academic researcher and taught me what discipline
means in academic terms and to enjoy this new acquirement. You were generous with
advice and shared part of your own archives. You never forced your own opinions on me but
helped me discover my own path and focus. Prof. Dr. Wouter Veraart, my second supervisor,
with patience, precision and suggestions you helped me to better master principles of law
and justice and their relevance for colonial cultural objects. You challenged me to keep
focussing on the main argument in this book.
Finally, Louise Boelens, my partner who supported my undertaking from the beginning (as all
other projects) and lovingly accepted all the time-consuming disquiet surrounding it. Thank
you for this and for being a dear and valuable sparring partner for developing so many ideas
in this book.

I dedicate this book to Louise and our sons, Olmo and Benji.

Utrecht, September 2016
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