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Napoleon fans outraged by horse memorial

A reproduction of the skeleton of Napoleon's favourite horse Marengo has been hung over the French emperor's tomb in Paris - to the outrage of his present-day fans as they commemorate 200 years since his death.

Published: 8 May 2021 17:20 CEST
Napoleon fans outraged by horse memorial
Photo: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

The artwork dubbed “Memento Marengo” by artist Pascal Convert immortalises
Napoleon’s loyal steed, who bore the general through several battles before being captured by British troops at Waterloo in 1815.

Convert based his work on ancient traditions of horses accompanying their masters to the grave, copying the skeleton from the thoroughbred’s remains kept in London’s National Army Museum.

“I know some people might not understand this work, but it’s anything but disrespectful,” said Eric de Chassey, director of France’s National Art History Institute (INHA) that has organised a series of modern art pieces displayed at the Invalides museum complex where Napoleon is buried.

The horse skeleton “paradoxically allows a kind of rehumanisation of Napoleon,” de Chassey explained.

“Death is the reality of war. Since ancient times, we’ve had this image of warriors ascending to heaven on horseback.”

Napoleon fans blasted the piece, with historian Pierre Branda of the Fondation Napoleon calling it “grotesque and shocking” in an opinion piece for the Figaro newspaper.

Fondation Napoleon chief Thierry Lentz tweeted that he “couldn’t believe” the artwork had been installed above his icon’s tomb.

Other artists with pieces displayed at the Invalides have taken more direct aim at the emperor, with China’s Yan Pei-Ming painting the moment Napoleon famously crowned himself, while Damien Deroubaix showed him as a black slave in chains.

Member comments

  1. “I know some people might not understand this work, but it’s anything but disrespectful,” said Eric de Chassey

    I would think that 99% of the population don’t and disagree with it.

  2. The idea is stunning. From the photographs the installation appears to be beautiful and inspiring. I commend the artist and the curators for their insight and courage to appreciate the story of Napoleon’s horse in his life, his character, his service to the Emperor, and his mortality, and then to bring that story, visually and intimately to the Emperor’s tomb. This is a powerful way to embrace and try to represent the whole of the Napoleon’s impact. It’s high time to consider the cost paid by millions of humans and animals who gave their lives to enable the political successes and failures of Napoleon, as well as the millions more who gave their lives for others we consider to be great heroes. There is more real glory in this kind of art than there ever was or will be in waging war. I hope to see the installation in person.

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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