The painting depicts a man from Osu who was part of a group that was tricked into 'performing' in Vienna
You may have heard that a piece of art by a celebrated Austrian painter, depicting a 19th century man from Osu, Accra, has been rediscovered and put on sale for over $16 million.
The portrait by Gustav Klimt depicts a man named Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona and is dated 1897.
The painting was lost after World War II but was rediscovered and presented to W&K – Wienerroither & Kohlbacher Gallery of Vienna and New York in 2021. The piece is said to be worth €15 million ($16.4 million).
But did you know that this piece of art by Gustav Klimt is linked to a dark side of European/Austrian history where Africans were exhibited for European viewing pleasure?
If you are a regular to our content, you will know this story as ‘EXPOSING HIDDEN HISTORIES: Vienna and the Ga-Asante human zoo story with Nigerian-Austrian academic Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński’.
We spoke to Belinda in 2021, a then PhD researcher, who was putting the final touches to her exhibition at Kunsthalle Wien (Vienna) in Austria.
The exhibition was based on documents and a book by Peter Altenberg about a human zoo in Vienna consisting of men, women and children who were tricked into leaving their homes in Accra and travelling to Vienna.
Belinda explains the narrative behind the human zoo that housed Ga communities from Osu and why these people were marketed to European visitors as Asante.
Our conversation includes centring the stories of two Ga women – Naa Badu and Yaarborley Domeï and Belinda talks about her efforts to return the story home.
AKADi Magazine featured Belinda’s story in our digital publication: Issue 7 – What does being Ghanaian mean to you?