A historic step forward! Image: (L-R) Abebaw Ayalew Gella (Director General, Ethiopian Heritage Authority) and Adam M. Levine (Edward Drummond and Florence Scott Libbey Director, President, and CEO, Toledo Museum of Art) collaborate on a groundbreaking partnership on Ethiopian Art Restitution and shared cultural stewardship. Photo: Brooklynn Russell.
The Toledo Museum of Art and Ethiopia’s heritage authority have launched a long-term partnership covering 380 artworks, provenance, and restitution.
BY KAZEEM ADELEKE, ARTCENTRON
The Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio has acquired approximately 380 Ethiopian artworks and entered a more-than-20-year partnership with Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Heritage Authority to research their histories and determine their future stewardship. The collection spans more than 500 years, from the 13th century onward. According to the Toledo Museum, the collection is believed to be the largest collection of Ethiopian art previously held in private hands.
The agreement combines the acquisition with provenance research, conservation, documentation, professional development, and knowledge exchange. It also provides for long-term loans and phased repatriation.
Five works from the collection have already been identified for return to Ethiopia. Two are 15th-century religious manuscripts. According to the Toledo Museum, new provenance research found that the manuscripts were illegally removed from Ethiopia after 1970. The Ethiopian Heritage Authority will determine where the returned manuscripts will be kept and displayed.
Toledo Museum of Art Ethiopia Partnership Focuses on Provenance
The Toledo Museum of Art Ethiopia partnership addresses a complex issue in the stewardship of cultural heritage: incomplete provenance. Provenance is the documented history of an artwork. It can establish who owned an object, where it was held, and how it moved between collections.
Some cultural objects have gaps in those records. The Toledo Museum describes such works as “orphan objects.” The museum says incomplete provenance can restrict opportunities for research, documentation, and public access. The new partnership will allow the museum and Ethiopian Heritage Authority to investigate those histories together.
Rather than treating incomplete documentation as proof of either legal or illegal acquisition, the institutions will examine the evidence surrounding individual works. The partnership is expected to continue for more than two decades. During that period, the institutions will collaborate on research, conservation, documentation, and professional exchange.
Why Does Provenance Matter in Ethiopian Art Restitution?
Provenance research plays an important role in Ethiopian art restitution and wider debates about cultural heritage. An incomplete ownership history does not automatically establish that an artwork was stolen or illegally exported. It can, however, raise questions about how an object left its country of origin.
The issue has an important international context. UNESCO adopted its 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The convention established an international framework for addressing the illicit movement of cultural property. The primary legal and historical context are in the UNESCO’s information on the 1970 Convention.
Provenance research can involve museum records, ownership documents, exhibition histories, and archival material. Researchers may need to examine records held in different countries before establishing an object’s movement. That process is particularly relevant to the Toledo collection because the histories of the approximately 380 works are not necessarily identical.
Five Works Identified for Return to Ethiopia
Five works from the collection have been identified for return to Ethiopia. The Toledo Museum specifically identifies two of them as 15th-century religious manuscripts. New provenance research found evidence that the manuscripts were in Ethiopia after 1970.
The research also determined that they were illegally removed from the country after that date. The museum’s announcement does not identify the other three works or provide detailed provenance findings for each of them.
That distinction matters when describing the restitution process. The museum has confirmed that five works will be returned, but its announcement provides specific provenance findings for the two manuscripts. The Ethiopian Heritage Authority will determine where the returned manuscripts are ultimately kept and displayed. The remaining works in the collection will undergo further research.
A More Than 20-Year Framework for Restitution
This 20-year international partnership is designed as a model for museums worldwide by shifting the focus from traditional ownership to stewardship and sharing Ethiopia’s rich art history with the public.
Over the next two decades—with the first ten years dedicated to research, capacity, and restitution, and the second to the long-range disposition of returned objects—the collaboration demonstrates that significant progress in the art world can be achieved through open communication and mutual understanding rather than assumptions.
The partnership extends beyond the initial five returns. TMA and EHA will work together to preserve the collection and investigate the histories of individual objects. Their work will include extensive research and documentation.
Conservation is also part of the agreement. The institutions will pursue professional development and knowledge exchange as well. The partnership includes long-term loans and phased repatriation. It does not mean that all 380 works will automatically return to Ethiopia.
Instead, the institutions will evaluate individual objects as research progresses. The findings will help determine appropriate long-term stewardship. Some works could remain with the museum. Others could become long-term loans. Further research could also lead to additional returns to Ethiopia.
From Acquisition to Stewardship
The agreement places stewardship alongside acquisition as a central concern. The Toledo Museum is acquiring the collection while committing to research its histories with Ethiopia’s heritage authority.
That gives the Ethiopian Heritage Authority a formal role in the research and future stewardship process. The arrangement also creates opportunities for professional exchange between Ethiopian and American museum specialists.
The museum describes the partnership as a new model for the stewardship, research, and future care of cultural heritage. That is the institution’s characterization of the initiative. Its longer-term significance will depend on the research findings and decisions that emerge from the partnership.
Artcentron has explored the wider debate surrounding the return of cultural objects in “Should Cultural Artifacts Be Returned? Exploring Both Sides of the Debate.”
Toledo Museum Has Earlier Connections to Ethiopian Art
The new partnership follows the Toledo Museum’s earlier engagement with Ethiopian art. The museum presented Ethiopia at the Crossroads, an exhibition examining Ethiopian art and cultural exchange. The exhibition was also presented at the Walters Art Museum and Peabody Essex Museum.
The Toledo Museum’s collection database documents the exhibition’s Toledo presentation. Its collection also includes Ethiopian objects, including a processional cross with a Ge’ez inscription.
Readers can explore the museum’s collection record for the processional cross, which also provides exhibition history connected to Ethiopia at the Crossroads. The new agreement expands that institutional relationship. Its focus now includes provenance research, conservation, and the future stewardship of Ethiopian cultural heritage.
Ethiopian Art Restitution Reflects a Wider Museum Debate
The Toledo agreement comes as museums and governments continue to examine the histories of cultural objects held outside their countries of origin. The debate is particularly significant for African cultural heritage. Museums are facing increased scrutiny over objects acquired during colonial periods, military campaigns, and other periods of political upheaval.
Restitution cases can vary considerably. Some involve documented looting or illegal export. Others involve objects whose ownership and movement histories remain incomplete. The distinction is important because an incomplete provenance does not, on its own, establish that an object was illegally acquired.
Artcentron recently reported on another African restitution case in “Switzerland Returns Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in Major Cultural Restitution Move.” The Nigerian case provides a useful comparison, although its circumstances differ from those surrounding the Toledo collection. In the Ethiopian case, the new partnership places provenance research at the center of decisions about future stewardship.
Will All 380 Ethiopian Artworks Be Returned?
No such commitment is made in the Toledo Museum’s announcement. The museum says approximately 380 Ethiopian artworks are part of the collection at the center of the partnership. Five works have already been identified for return.
The institutions will continue researching the remaining objects. Their findings will help determine what happens to individual works. Possible outcomes include continued museum stewardship, long-term loans, and additional repatriation.
The distinction is important because the partnership is not a blanket agreement to return the entire collection to Ethiopia. Instead, it creates a long-term process for evaluating the provenance and appropriate stewardship of individual objects.
What the Toledo-Ethiopia Partnership Means
The partnership brings acquisition, provenance research, conservation, and restitution into a single long-term framework. For Ethiopia, it creates a formal mechanism for researching a substantial group of works connected to its cultural heritage. For the Toledo Museum, it provides a structure for investigating objects whose histories require additional documentation.
The agreement also places professional exchange at the center of the relationship. Ethiopian and American museum professionals will have opportunities to collaborate on research, conservation, and documentation. For Ethiopian art restitution, the five initial returns mark the beginning of a longer process.
The approximately 380 artworks will now enter a period of continued research and documentation. Future decisions will depend on the evidence surrounding individual objects and the ongoing relationship between the Toledo Museum of Art and the Ethiopian Heritage Authority.