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Modigliani ‘portrait’ found in rubbish tip goes on display

A mysterious mouse-eaten portrait found on a Rome rubbish heap ten years ago and thought to be an original work by Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian Jewish artist who worked mainly in France, is set to go on display for the first time.

Published: 20 June 2016 11:44 CEST
Modigliani 'portrait' found in rubbish tip goes on display
The work is perhaps by Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani, who is one of the world's most valuable artists. Photo: Instituto Amedeo Modigliani

The picture, which shows a young woman, is thought by some to have been painted by Amedeo Modigliani and was salvaged from the rubbish tip by an avid 'skip diver', who now owns it, in the suburb of Rustica on the outskirts of Rome.

The salvaged portrait, entitled 'Odette', bore a large humidity stain and a hole which experts think was chewed by a passing rodent, but has been lovingly restored by Italy's Amedeo Modigliani Institute.

It will be on display at the Fesival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Umbria, from next Thursday.

“By putting the portrait on display we hope to encourage scholarly debate about its authenticity,” Franco Sensi, the institute's vice president, told The Local.

Until now, the portrait's authenticity has been fiercely contested with Modigliani experts in France – where the painter and sculptor lived and worked for much of his adult life – refusing to analyze the painting as they are convinced from photographs it is a forgery.


Photo: Instituto Amedeo Modigliani

“Not one single element of the work corresponds to Modigliani's craftsmanship. Neither the theme, the chromatic structure nor the choice of structure,” experts from a French Modigliani group wrote in a letter to the painting's owner.

But Italian experts say there is reason to believe the painting is original.

“Studies carried out in Milan have dated the materials to 1917-1918,” added Sensi.

“At that time Modigliani was practically unknown and his paintings worthless, so it's unlikely someone would have wasted the canvas and materials in producing a forgery, although it could have been produced by an admirer.”

“The figure is painted in his trademark style and the picture is signed by him,” Sensi added.

“We can't say it's definitely an original, but obviously the owner is very hopeful because Modigliani paintings are among the most valuable in the world.”

If scholars can agree on the painting's authenticity, it could net its owner millions.

Last November, a Modigliani portrait of a reclining nude sold for €154.6 million at auction – making it the most expensive work by an Italian artist in history and the seventh most expensive painting of all time.

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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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