Sindika Dokolo, crusader for return of African art, dies at 48
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, November 5, 2024


Sindika Dokolo, crusader for return of African art, dies at 48
Sindika Dokolo, the noted Congolese art collector and advocate for repatriation of African art, in Porto, Portugal, May 15, 2015. Dokolo and his billionaire wife, a daughter of the longtime Angolan leader Jose Eduardo dos Santos, had assets assets frozen during an investigation in early 2020. He died in Dubai, reportedly in a scuba diving accident, on Oct. 29, 2020, at age 48. Patricia de Melo Moreira/The New York Times.

by Richard Sandomir



NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Sindika Dokolo, a wealthy Congolese art collector who crusaded for the return of African art removed during the colonial era by Western museums, art dealers and auction houses, but who became embroiled this year in investigations into how his Angolan wife had acquired her riches, died Oct. 29 in Dubai. He was 48.

His family announced his death on his Twitter account. According to news media reports, he died in a diving accident off the coast of Dubai.

“Works that used to be clearly in African museums must absolutely return to Africa,” Dokolo told The New York Times in 2015. “There are works that disappeared from Africa and are now circulating on the world market based on obvious lies about how they got there.”

Dokolo, who amassed a 5,000-piece collection of contemporary African art, established a foundation in 2013 that uses a network of dealers, researchers and lawyers working in Brussels and London to monitor the art market and scour archives for African art that might be repatriated.

When a stolen piece is tracked down, Dokolo told Artnet News last year, “we confront the current owner, and we offer them two options: Either we go to court based on the evidence that we have, which means reputational damage, or we pay an indemnity, which is not the current market price but the price they paid when they acquired it.”

His foundation has located 17 artworks and returned 12 to their rightful places. “If I have to spend a large deal of money and five years in court, I will do it,” Dokolo told The African Report in 2016.

His early recoveries include ancestral female masks and a male statue of the Chokwe people of Central and southern Africa. They had been looted from the Dundo Museum in Angola during the Angolan civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 2002.

Dokolo had money aplenty to repatriate purloined African art. His father founded the Bank of Kinshasa in Congo during the dictatorial reign of Mobutu Sese Seko, and Dokolo was married to Isabel dos Santos, a daughter of Jose Eduardo dos Santos, president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. A billionaire, Isabel dos Santos is said to be Africa’s richest woman.

In January, Angolan authorities charged her with money laundering and embezzlement. Investigations by the International Coalition of Investigative Journalists and 36 media partners, including The New York Times, showed how Western financial firms, consultants, lawyers and accountants had helped her profit from her father’s rule of Angola and move hundreds of millions of dollars in public money out of the country. The journalists were aided by 715,000 documents, called the Luanda Leaks, which were provided by a whistleblower.




Dos Santos’ assets, as well as Dokolo’s, were frozen in Angola, then in Portugal and the Netherlands, where they had business interests. The Angolan government is trying to recover about $1 billion in assets from the couple.

Dokolo had said that he and wife were scapegoats of the Angolan government, which is now led by President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.

“It does not attack the agents of public companies accused of embezzlement, just a family operating in the private sector,” Dokolo told Radio France Internationale in January.

Sindika Dokolo was born May 16, 1972, in Kinshasa, Zaire (the former name of the Democratic Republic of Congo). His father, Augustin Dokolo Sanu, inspired his son to collect African art; his mother, Hanne (Kruse) Dokolo, was born in Denmark and moved to Congo in 1966 to oversee the Danish Red Cross dispensary there. She married Augustin Dokolo in 1968.

Sindika was raised in France and Belgium with his two sisters and a brother; attended the Lycée Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague in Paris; and studied economics, commerce and foreign languages at the Pierre and Marie Curie University of Paris. According to his online biography, he left France in 1995 to be with his father and pursue family investments.

Dokolo and dos Santos married in 2002, bringing him to Angola, a Congo neighbor. Information about his survivors other than his wife was not immediately available.

Dokolo’s vast African collection includes works by British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare and South Africans Zanele Muholi and William Kentridge. He helped African artists show their work at Western events; lent some of his collection to the Venice Biennale in 2007; and gave 340,000 euros, through his foundation, to 17 artists who exhibited at Documenta, the German art event, in 2017.

But he seemed most passionate about bringing stolen art back to Africa, with a focus on his adopted homeland. Announcing the purchase of a Chokwe mask from a French dealer in 2016, he said, “Now is the time for all of Angola’s lost cultural treasures to return home, where they can play their role to the full; a role that will help strengthen Angola’s culture and knowledge.”


© 2020 The New York Times Company










Today's News

November 13, 2020

Hands at the Loom, the Complex Art of Producing an Artistic Oriental Rug (Part II)

Marian Goodman Gallery presents a solo exhibition of new work by Julie Mehretu

Christie's to offer a private collection of important baseball memorabilia

Newly discovered primate in Myanmar 'already facing extinction'

The Cleveland Museum of Art presents 50 photographs from Bruce Davidson's 'Brooklyn Gang' series

Almine Rech presents never-before-seen works by Vivian Springford

Exhibition pairs the work of two African photographers

Important Thai Orders, medals and decorations to be sold at auction

Sindika Dokolo, crusader for return of African art, dies at 48

Eli Klein Gallery opens a group exhibition of 8 Chinese contemporary artists residing in New York

Shannon's fall online fine art auction includes 242 lots of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures

Christie's to offer an important collection of Tiffany Studio and remarkable jewels

65 year old Jaguar emerges from Arizona and roars into UK classic car scene

Aileen Passloff, dancer, choreographer and teacher, dies at 89

Museum launches new CAMHLAB initiative to support artists in production of new work

The original art for Topps' legendary 1966 Monster Stickers resurfaces at Heritage Auctions

Parrasch Heijnen opens exhibition comprising eleven works by Marcia Hafif

Great War Memorial Plaque that rewrites Black history in World War One sold for £10,540

Israel Horovitz, playwright tarnished by abuse allegations, dies at 81

Natan Zach, blunt and cherished Israeli poet, dies at 89

Strangers on a phone, theatrically speaking

Premier Western artists headline first American Art Auction at new Heritage headquarters

Prescription Opioids: 4 Extremely Addictive Prescription Opioids

Skin Care: Four Essential Nutrients for Healthy Skin

Credit Score

Do's and Don'ts While Writing Resumes And Profiles

Online Poker Websites- How To Select The Right Table To Play Poker Games!!

Top 5 Tips And Tricks To Be A Pro IDN Poker Player!

The artist at home: How artists have used their newfound time at home to create art

Things That Differentiate The 2 Modes Of Observing Movies

5 Of The World's Top Casinos with Incredible Art Collection

Best health tips for getting your first tattoo




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful