Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Collection of Objects from Colonial Contexts

The estate of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, owned by the Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Foundation at the Brücke Museum, contains his collection of around 100 sculptures and objects with colonial backgrounds. The Brücke artist himself never travelled outside Europe and, to the best of current knowledge, bought these objects in the art trade and from private owners from the 1910s onwards. The collection includes ritual and everyday objects, alongside souvenirs for the Western market. The way they were perceived underwent changes: they came to be seen as objects of art and decoration. Little is known of their origins, the circumstances of their acquisition, or the historical and current importance of the objects. Most of them originate from Germany’s former colonies, thus referring directly to German Expressionists’ entanglements in the often unlawful appropriation of material culture in colonially occupied lands. More

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Objects from Cameroon • Objekte aus Kamerun · Objets du Cameroun

Cameroon was under German colonial power from 1884 until the beginning of the First World War in 1914. The Cameroonian objects from Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's collection are witnesses to this history of entanglement and its long shadows. The path of these objects to Europe is unknown; they may be loot from violent raids, so-called "punitive expeditions," but they may also have been exchanged, donated, or even produced and purchased for trade under the asymmetrical conditions of the colonial period. Almost all of the objects come from the Grassland region administered by royalty, where courtly art flourished. European enthusiasm for masks, figurines, and sumptuous utilitarian objects led King Njoya of Bamum to monopolize the art trade around 1930. King Njoya allowed to reproduce royal iconography for sale to foreign patrons.

The artistic traditions of the Grasslands region live on to this day, but the most significant historical pieces owned by the kings of Cameroon are in Europe and the U.S., especially Germany, and are part of restitution requests to German museums.

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  Pipe Bowl, Cameroon Grassfields, 19th–20th century
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  Palm Wine Vessel, Cameroon Grassfields, 19th–20th century
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  Sideblown Trumpet, Cameroon, 19th–20th century
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  Top of a Drinking Horn, Cameroon Grassfields, 19th–20th century
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  Double Bell, West Africa, 19th–20th century
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  Game Pieces (Abbia), Cameroon, 19th–20th century
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  Dance Helmet Mask, Cameroon, 19th–20th century
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  Dance Helmet Mask in the Shape of a Buffalo, Cameroon, 19th–20th century
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  Prestigious Stool, Ebongo’a Bembon, Douala Region, 19th–20th century
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  Slit Drum, Cameroon(?), 19th–20th century

This is a gallery page containing specially selected image and media files. They have been chosen as highlights of a particular topic, but do not represent the full range of files that are available on Commons. For a wider selection of files connected with Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Collection of Objects from Colonial Contexts, see Category:Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Collection of Objects from Colonial Contexts in the Brücke-Museum Berlin.