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Italian man leaves million euro artwork on TGV

How could you possibly leave a 13th century work of art worth €1 million on the train? Well that's exactly what happened to an Italian art collector on a Paris to Geneva TGV train.

Published: 1 December 2014 15:26 CET
Italian man leaves million euro artwork on TGV
Italian art collector Francesco Plateroti left art worth €1 million on a French TGV. Photo: Marsupilami92/Flickr

Francesco Plateroti had more reason than most to visit the lost property section at a train station.

The art collector left a 13th century Chinese scroll “Le banquet des immortels à la terrasse de Jade” (“The banquet of immortals on the terrace of Jade”) by Wang Zhenpeng, estimated to be worth around €1 million ($1.25M), on the TGV train he was travelling on on November 21st.

After presenting the work of art, which dates from the Yuan dynasty (1280 – 1329) in the French capital, Plateroti took the high-speed TGV train from Paris to Geneva line and got off at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, a town close to the border with Switzerland and the final stop before Geneva.

Plateroti, who gives lectures on art around the world, didn’t realize immediately that he didn’t have the scroll with him. By the time a panicked Plateroti noticed that something was missing, the train had already left for Geneva.

“I was crushed when I realized I didn’t have it with me,” Plateroti told The Local France. “It was a massive shock".

He immediately alerted staff, who contacted colleagues in Geneva. The train was searched, but unfortunately nothing was found.

All lost property items are sent to a central office in the Swiss city of Berne, but so far no million-euro painting has been handed in.

The frustrated collector then took it into his owns hands to try to track down the work of art.

He published a small ad stating he would be willing to pay a reward to whoever returns it to him.

But that hasn't proved to have had the desired effect.

“People take advantage of my misfortune,” Plateroti told The Local France, adding the artwork would "sell for over €1 million at auction".

“They are calling me to say they have the painting and that they will send it once I put the reward money in their bank accounts.

"This all makes having lost the painting a lot worse.”

While he hasn’t received any good news yet concerning the loss of his prized possession Plateroti still remains hopeful.

“You have to be optimistic,” he said.

“After all, a positive attitude can overcome many obstacles.”

On the bright side, the painting can’t be sold legally at least, because Plateroti still has the certificate that made it possible to travel with the painting and confirms its authenticity. 

By Simone Flückiger

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ART

African-born director’s new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

One of the rare African-born figures to head a German cultural institution, Bonaventure Ndikung is aiming to highlight post-colonial multiculturalism at a Berlin arts centre with its roots in Western hegemony.

Published: 8 July 2023 10:13 CEST
African-born director's new vision for Berlin cultural magnet

The “Haus der Kulturen der Welt” (House of World Cultures), or HKW, was built by the Americans in 1956 during the Cold War for propaganda purposes, at a time when Germany was still divided.

New director Ndikung said it had been located “strategically” so that people on the other side of the Berlin Wall, in the then-communist East, could see it.

This was “representing freedom” but “from the Western perspective”, the 46-year-old told AFP.

Now Ndikung, born in Cameroon before coming to study in Germany 26 years ago, wants to transform it into a place filled with “different cultures of the world”.

The centre, by the river Spree, is known locally as the “pregnant oyster” due to its sweeping, curved roof. It does not have its own collections but is home to exhibition rooms and a 1,000-seat auditorium.

It reopened in June after renovations, and Ndikung’s first project “Quilombismo” fits in with his aims of expanding the centre’s offerings.

The exhibition takes its name from the Brazilian term “Quilombo”, referring to the communities formed in the 17th century by African slaves, who fled to remote parts of the South American country.

Throughout the summer, there will also be performances, concerts, films, discussions and an exhibition of contemporary art from post-colonial societies across Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.

‘Rethink the space’

“We have been trying to… rethink the space. We invited artists to paint walls… even the floor,” Ndikung said.

And part of the “Quilombismo” exhibition can be found glued to the floor -African braids laced together, a symbol of liberation for black people, which was created by Zimbabwean artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti.

According to Ndikung, African slaves on plantations sometimes plaited their hair in certain ways as a kind of coded message to those seeking to escape, showing them which direction to head.

READ ALSO: Germany hands back looted artefacts to Nigeria

His quest for aestheticism is reflected in his appearance: with a colourful suit and headgear, as well as huge rings on his fingers, he rarely goes unnoticed.

During his interview with AFP, Ndikung was wearing a green scarf and cap, a blue-ish jacket and big, sky-blue shoes.

With a doctorate in medical biology, he used to work as an engineer before devoting himself to art.

In 2010, he founded the Savvy Gallery in Berlin, bringing together art from the West and elsewhere, and in 2017 was one of the curators of Documenta, a prestigious contemporary art event in the German city of Kassel.

Convinced of the belief that history “has been written by a particular type of people, mostly white and men,” Ndikung has had all the rooms in the HKW renamed after women.

These are figures who have “done something important in the advancement of the world” but were “erased” from history, he added. Among them is Frenchwoman Paulette Nardal, born in Martinique in 1896.

She helped inspire the creation of the “negritude” movement, which aimed to develop black literary consciousness, and was the first black woman to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Reassessing history

Ndikung’s appointment at the HKW comes as awareness grows in Germany about its colonial past, which has long been overshadowed by the atrocities committed during the era of Adolf Hitler’s Nazis.

Berlin has in recent years started returning looted objects to African countries which it occupied in the early 20th century — Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.

“It’s long overdue,” said Ndikung.

He was born in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, into an anglophone family.

The country is majority francophone but also home to an anglophone minority and has faced deadly unrest in English-speaking areas, where armed insurgents are fighting to establish an independent homeland.

One of his dreams is to open a museum in Cameroon “bringing together historical and contemporary objects” from different countries, he said.

He would love to locate it in Bamenda, the capital of Cameroon’s restive Northwest region.

“But there is a war in Bamenda, so I can’t,” he says.

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