THE LOOTING OF MALI’S DOGON CULTURAL HERITAGE (3/3)
– Thousands of works of African art were looted during and after colonisation. But some of the dealers who buy and sell these objects see things differently, insisting instead that some works have actually been saved from destruction.
– Although Dogon art is covered by the Sarr-Savoy report on the restitution of artworks, the recommended list contains only masks, even though the statues are the emblematic works.
On 28 November 2017, in Ouagadougou, President Emmanuel Macron gave a long speech in which he spoke of the restitution of works of art looted during French colonisation.
Dogon 2 © French President Emmanuel Macron in Ouagadougou on 28 November 2017. ©AFP
Stung to the quick, art merchant Hélène Leloup replied a year later in a virulent article published in Le Point on 19 November 2018. In it, she asserted that art dealers had saved many African masterpieces.
“As one of the last living people to have acquired
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