National Gallery of Denmark removes 'negro' in titles

The old building / J. V. Dahlerup. Photo: Ida Tietgen Høyrup.

COPENHAGEN (AFP).- The National Gallery of Denmark said Tuesday it was removing the word "negro" from titles and descriptions of artwork, prompting criticism that it was trying to rewrite history. The Copenhagen museum said the words "negro" and "Hottentot" -- a derogatory name for the Khoikhoi ethnic group -- would be removed from 14 works, as they reflected the language used during colonial times. "At the time, it was the word that was used (but) you no longer do," the art museum's head of collections and research, Peter Norgaard Larsen, told AFP. The two words would be replaced by either a nationality or a mention saying the person depicted was of African descent. "We continually change the titles of our works. They are always being revised ... so that we address the audience in a language corresponding to the time we are living in," he added. Original titles by an artist however will not be changed.

A spokesman for the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DPP) blasted the move, saying it was "stupid" and "unhistorical". "It makes our ancestors (look) better than they were," he told Danish news agency Ritzau. "If you are to take history seriously, you should obviously show that they used the term that we, for various reasons, do not use," he added. Naser Khader, a Syria-born lawmaker for the Conservative People's Party, accused the museum of "cleansing history." Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum took similar steps to remove racially offensive terms from titles and descriptions last year.

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