In an extraordinary move, MFA to return prized African art to wealthy donor and close gallery

Boston Globe

22-04-2025

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That has put the MFA, which owns just a handful of the exhibited objects but had been promised the rest, in a difficult position. It has been seeking to broker an ethical ownership agreement for a collection it does not yet own, perhaps transferring title to the royal court in exchange for a long-term loan of the objects.
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'It's really not appropriate for us to bring them into the collection,' said Victoria Reed, the museum's senior curator for provenance. 'But that means that we do not own them, and therefore we don't have control over them.'
The tortuous negotiations seemingly dissipated last week when donor Robert Owen Lehman asked the museum to give him back the disputed bronzes, an extraordinary move that will require the MFA to close its
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Portuguese Soldier from the 16th century.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
'We're all sad in contemplating this outcome,' said MFA director and chief executive Matthew Teitelbaum. 'There's no moment of celebration or resolution that feels fully satisfying.'
Teitelbaum, who described the return as a 'mutual agreement,' said the museum found itself in unusual circumstances. He added that Lehman,
whose eponymous foundation recently lost
'We were trying to get to a point where the court could assume ownership, and we could ensure display,' said Teitelbaum, who added the museum had been negotiating with the royal palace. 'We were making some progress, but without any certainty of outcome.'
Lehman, an award-winning filmmaker and banking heir, did not respond to a request for comment. A woman who answered the phone at a number under Lehman's listing said she was 'quite certain he has no comment.'
Lehman originally brokered the promised gift of 30-odd objects in 2012 with then-director Malcolm Rogers. They structured the gift so that individual Bronzes, which date from the 16th century on, would formally enter the museum's collection on a staggered timetable.
Today, the MFA has clear title to five of the artworks, which it will retain for the time being. It plans to return the 29 other Bronzes to Lehman once staffers have deinstalled the gallery, which is set to close on April 28th. The museum will also return two objects from Sierra Leone that were part of the initial pledge.
Reed said that although it's not the outcome the museum had hoped for, it also simplifies the MFA's path ahead.
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'What was a very complicated situation has now become far less complicated,' she said. 'It positions us now to talk about the five objects that we own, and look towards a resolution that is more in alignment with our stated principles and institutional values.'
This relief plaque showing two officials with raised swords, c. 1530‑1570, is among the works already donated to the MFA.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Benin Kingdom -- as opposed to the modern country of Benin, which borders Nigeria -- was a powerful West African force in the 19th Century. But after a group of British officials was killed during a trade dispute in 1897, Britain launched a so-called punitive expedition. Using boats and early machine guns, soldiers slaughtered untold numbers before sacking the royal palace and looting thousands of Bronzes, virtuosic works that eventually spread to an estimated 160 museums.
The MFA's collection of the bronzes has always posed a problem for the museum. Less than a month after it announced the gift in 2012, Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments demanded the museum return the works.
'We have every right in the world to own these beautiful pieces,' Rogers told the Globe at the time.
Separately, Rogers approached the royal court, where the oba, or king, authorized the MFA's installation. The oba, who died in 2016, dispatched emissaries to attend the gallery's 2013 opening, though he did not weigh in on the museum's long-term ownership of the Bronzes.
Rogers, who retired from the MFA in 2015, did not respond to an interview request.
The current oba, Ewuare II, has been outspoken about the Bronzes' return, and in recent years numerous museums, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and some German institutions have moved to repatriate the looted objects.
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Those efforts have been complicated by the question of where in Nigeria
the restituted objects should go. Museums had negotiated for years with the Nigerian
National Commission for Museums and Monuments. But Nigeria sowed confusion in 2023, when it formally recognized the oba as
'There is no more ambiguity,' Commission head Olugbile Holloway told Reuters in February. 'The Oba has given the NCMM the blessing.'
Commemorative head of an Oba, from the late 16th century. The MFA will close its Benin Kingdom Gallery on April 28.
Lane Turner/Globe Staff
Teitelbaum said that although the MFA has been in conversation with the royal court, the Nigerians have never submitted a renewed ownership claim.
'We initiated the conversations with the court in response to the international context,' he said.
Teitelbaum added that the museum 'paused' Lehman's promised gift in 2021 -- indefinitely tabling the formal acquisition of more Bronzes -- though it continued to exhibit them in the dedicated gallery.
Kelly Hays, who directs the MFA's Gifts of Art program, said it's exceedingly rare for a donor and the museum to amend or rescind a pledge.
'They are legally binding enforceable pledges, and we take that seriously,' said Hays, who estimated that fewer than 10 pledges have been altered over the years. 'This one has the appearance of being unusual just because of the circumstances, the nature of the collection, and the fact that it's been on view in a gallery.'
Teitelbaum said the museum will offer free admission Thursday so visitors can see the Bronzes one last time.
In June, the museum plans to display the five Bronzes in its collection. (It will also display one on loan from Lehman, a commemorative head that left the Kingdom before the 1897 attack.)
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'We are going to tell the story of objects we have with commitment and with a real sense of pride,' said Teitelbaum, 'but there is no doubt there is a loss.'
Malcolm Gay can be reached at