"One speaks softly, like in a sacred place”: collecting, studying and exhibiting Congolese artefacts as African art in Belgium (1850–1897)

This article will try to correct the ‘modernist myth’, dating the ‘discovery’ of African ‘art’ after 1900, by looking at Belgium and its colony at the end of the 19th century. Although Africans themselves were of course the first to appreciate the beauty of their own objects, not only European artists, but also colonials, scientists and museum curators became fascinated by African artists and their work, including not only sculpture, but also material culture, drawings, architecture, music and dance. The article will trace how African utensils became exhibited as ethnographical specimens and a... Mehr ...