Initial check on colonial contexts of the ethnographic holdings of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld

The collections of the Kunstmuseen Krefeld include a small number of so-called ethnographic objects of non-European origin, which found their way to Krefeld between 1891 and 1930 in the context of European colonialism and German colonial history. Founded in 1897, the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum then pursued a collection and exhibition program that attributed particular importance to folk art. "Folk art", which included cultural products of African, Asian, and Oceanic societies, was intended to serve as a source of inspiration for local art and design production. Within this framework, several objects from Africa, South and East Asia, and Oceania were acquired, mainly through the art trade. Between October 2022 and March 2023, these holdings, which have been insufficiently documented to date, were recorded and catalogued in a project funded by the German Lost Art Foundation. Additionally, the social contexts in which the objects were created were identified, and the circumstances of their appropriation investigated. At the same time, the purposes the objects served in the museum's history were examined. During the project, only few chains of provenance that extend to the objects’ appropriation in their countries of origin were uncovered. The research mostly only reached to various companies active in the European art and "ethnographica" trade.

The project results were summarized in a final report Furthermore, the results contribute to the "Collection Satellite" presentation and publication series and the research project "The Grand Seduction. Karl Ernst Osthaus and the Beginnings of Consumer Culture."

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