Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, to close Benin Kingdom Gallery on April 28

The space opened in 2013 after the Museum accepted a promised gift from Robert Owen Lehman of his collection of West African works from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Lehman—who remained the lender of the objects while they were displayed at the MFA—pledged to give them to the Museum over time. The Museum and Lehman have now agreed to rescind the pledge and return the loaned objects to Lehman. Prior to the gallery’s closure, the MFA will offer free general admission for all visitors on the evening of April 24 from 5 to 10 pm.

Artists from the Benin Kingdom, located in present-day Nigeria, created bronze and ivory masterpieces that were commissioned by the oba (king). In 1897, British troops invaded Benin City, occupied the palace, exiled Oba Ovonramwen, and looted approximately 4,000 objects from his treasury. Many works in the Lehman Collection, which was formed in the 1970s and 1980s through purchase at public auction and from dealers, can be traced to the attack on Benin in 1897.

Between 2012 and 2020, Lehman donated a total of five Benin Kingdom objects that are now part of the MFA’s collection. While the remaining works from the pledge are being returned to Lehman, several of the objects in the Museum’s collection will go on view in late June in the Art of Africa Gallery. The MFA continues to seek a resolution regarding the ownership and display of the Benin Kingdom works in its collection.

“The MFA was the first American museum to launch a colonial-era provenance project. We strive to be a leader in ethical stewardship and reaching judicious restitution decisions,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, Ann and Graham Gund Director. “Unfortunately, we were not able to make progress on a mutually agreeable resolution for our gallery of Benin bronzes. Without such a resolution, the gallery could not be sustained in the long term.”

The objects going on view in the adjacent Art of Africa Gallery include a commemorative head, a pendant showing an oba and two dignitaries, a relief plaque showing two officials with raised swords, and a relief plaque showing a war chief with two attendants—all of which are in the MFA’s collection. In addition, the MFA will retain and display one loan from Lehman, a bronze commemorative head of a defeated leader, which was outside the Benin Kingdom by the 1880s and not subject to the looting of 1897.

In the near future, the gallery will be turned into a space for displaying the MFA’s renowned collection of Nubian art. A small selection of Nubian objects will go on view beginning May 1. Highlights include shawabties (funerary figurines) of King Taharqa, the most powerful of Nubia’s rulers, and finely decorated pottery from the Meroitic period, during which the kingdom flourished and participated in trade and cultural exchange across the Mediterranean. A more robust display will follow in the coming years after the conclusion of a major touring exhibition.