| Author: | Jacinto Antón |
| Title: | The stuffed and mounted black man on exhibit in Banyoles was a tribal chief |
| Publication info: | Ann Arbor, Michigan: MPublishing, University of Michigan Library Passages 1992 |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This work is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Please contact [email protected] for more information. |
| Source: | The stuffed and mounted black man on exhibit in Banyoles was a tribal chief Jacinto Antón Evanston, IL: Program of African Studies, Northwestern University no. 3, pp. 16, 1992 |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.4761530.0003.016 |
CONTROVERSY GROWS OVER THE EXHIBITION OF A NATIVE IN A MUSEUM The Stuffed and Mounted Black Man on Exhibit in Banyoles Was a Tribal Chief
Reprinted from El País, November 30, 1991
BARCELONA—The stuffed and mounted body of a black man which has been exhibited since 1916 in the Museo Municipal Darder of Banyoles (Gerona), and which has roused a great polemic over whether or not it should be put away, was robbed from its tomb in Africa and preserved by the well-known nineteenth century French explorer and taxidermist, Edward Verraux, owner of the Maison Verraux of Paris, an establishment dedicated to the sale of stuffed and mounted animals. The Barcelona naturalist, Francisco de A. Darder, acquired it from Verraux and included it in his singular natural history collection. The black man, according to the testimony Edward Verraux picked up from Darder himself, was the chief of a Bechuana tribe.
Alfonso Arcelin, a Spanish doctor of Haitian origin, began the controversy over the stuffed black man of Banyoles last November, when he asked the municipal government to remove the individual from display in consideration that his presence in the museum is "denigrating and unconstitutional." "I am black and I feel insulted," declared Arcelin, who threatens a call to African countries to boycott Banyoles as a site of the rowing events for the Olympic games in Barcelona.
Most citizens of Banyoles are opposed to the removal of the stuffed man, something they have seen in the museum all their lives. In addition, they have merchandized several products related to the preserved man and have begun a campaign to keep him with stickers and pins with the logo "We love you. Stay".
The municipal government yesterday agreed unanimously to support the museum council, which considers it indispensable to keep the black man in the exhibition. The approved motion agreed that this type of museum represents a fin de siècle scientific conception which should be respected as history and serve a pedagogical function.
Owing to its popularity, the origin of the black man has always been surrounded by darkness and mystery. The most fantastic theories were put forward to satisfy the curiosity which this singular case provoked.
Darder left the origin of the individual explained, however, in a 1888 book he wrote as a guide to his collection. This essay was distributed freely at the entrance of the Museum of Natural History which Darder opened in Barcelona on May 17 of this same year.
In the second section of the guide under the heading of "Bipeds", just before that of "Quadrupeds," appears the following reflection:
There is that which constitutes only one family, one genus, and one unique species, which is man. This [man] is not found in the natural history museums, and we do not know of anyone who possesses an example which is preserved and mounted just like any animal. We have obtained one at the cost of sacrifices, which is the bechuanas (sic), of which we will speak in the anthropology section.
In the latter section, after a series of notes about the Bechuana culture and "kafir" savagery in general, it is explained that the preserved black man "is owed to the audacity of his preparer, the Frenchman Verraux," who, "in one of his many trips that he frequently took in the search for notable models which have enriched many European museums, attended the burial of a tribal chief which was being celebrated with great pomp in those remote territories." Verraux and his brother made off with the body at midnight, when kinsmen and assistants at the ceremony had long left the place.
Copyright © 1991 by El País. Translated and reprinted by permission.
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