French museums have 90,000 African artefacts

French museums have 90,000 African artefacts, most of which were acquired during the colonial period. Macron promised a return within 5 years (Catherine Calvet et Guillaume Lecaplain 'Vers une remise en Etats des œuvres africaines' Liberation 20 Novembre 2018):

African countries where the artwork of the Quai Branley museum in Paris were made. 

In France debate has been invigorated by the publication of a report by French art historian Bénédicte Savoy and Senegalese academic writer Felwine Sarron on how to deal with the issue: Kate Brown, 'In a Groundbreaking Report, Experts Advise French President Macron to Begin the ‘Restitution’ of Looted African Arts' ArtNet News November 20, 2018 (scare quotes in original)

The introduction states that the report “concerns only the sub-Saharan part of Africa.” That means that all of French North Africa—modern day Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia—are excluded. In total, France occupied or colonized, at various times, at least 20 current or former countries in Africa. The nation was a foremost player in the continent’s European colonization and several African nations are still dependent protectorate territories. The report also recommends rigorous examination of various criteria in determining which objects should be restituted. Works that can be proven to have been acquired with “free, fair, and documented consent” may be retained by French museums. Objects seized during 18th- and 19th-century military campaigns and scientific missions, or objects that were gifted to museums by any agents of colonial administration or their descendants without consent of their original owners, will have a different fate. Addressing the major concerns that French museums could be “emptied,” the two recommend the creation of duplicates or facsimiles of objects, where appropriate. France’s holdings of cultural objects from its colonial empire are vast, so there will likely be a strong reaction from the museums when the full report is released at the end of the week. One of the most prominent collections is that of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, which holds 450,000 objects from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. artnet News reached out to Stéphane Martin, the president of the museum, to comment on the preview of the report, but the institution said he will wait to respond until the full document can be read on Friday. Exactly how the report is received by Macron and put into action remains, for now, an open question. Regardless, Savoy and Sarr offer a radical shift on how respective parties must view the issue of colonial era artifacts. They write that the problem arises when a museum is not affirming a national identity but is instead conceived as a museum of “the other,” keeping objects taken from elsewhere and assuming the right to speak about these others, or on their behalf. “Through the objects and stories held in so-called ethnographic collections, controlled representations of societies, which are often essentialized, have been put in place,” they write. “To speak openly about restitution is to speak of justice, rebalancing, recognition, restoration and reparation,” continue Savoy and Sarr. “But above all, it is to pave the way for the establishment of new cultural relationships.” 

 The full report will be available on Friday, November 23, in English and French at www.restitutionreport2018.com