Amedeo Modigliani is probably
the most famous Italian artist of the 20th century and he was born today July
12th, 1884 in Livorno, close to Pisa. We’ve had a few “run in’s” in my art
conservation career related to his work which have added to the intrigue of our
art conservation detective work over the decades…
While growing up in Livorno, he
developed a passion for painting from Gugliemo Micheli while still very young
and was nurtured by his first teacher, maestro Giovanni Fattori, also from
Livorno and one of the leaders of the internationally acclaimed plein-aire
impressionists group known as the Macchiaioli.
But it was in Paris, where he
went in 1906 (22 years old), that he expanded is sights and developed his
characteristic style for which he became well known after his death, even
internationally famous.
Neither critics nor the art
market accepted Amadeo in his lifetime and in 1920 at 35 years old died without
being appreciated artistically. Only other great artist’s of his time
appreciated his genius. Today his works sell for many $10 millions.
The most recent “adventure” I
had with Modigliani’s work was with a portrait that was inherited by the son
in-law of one of the famous reality TV Kardiasian girls. Before it could be
sold for what they hoped was $25 million (so they could buy a helicopter) it
required, of course, that it be authenticated. I work with Modigliani expert
Kenneth Wayne and here is a link for his authoritative book. Here’s
the story (but once you watch this don’t forget to come back and read the other
“adventure” that is written up below). Click
here to see the video about the TV appearance of See Scott M.
Haskins on Keeping Up With The Kardasians
Real
or reproduction?
Another Exciting
Amadeo Modigliani Art Treasure Hunt Drama
Please do not publish. All
rights reserved, Copyrighted 2000.
I can’t believe it was so long
ago, but in 1984 it was the centennial of the birth of Amadeo Modigliani,
perhaps Italy’s most famous artist of the 20th
century. Italy was geared
up for
an all out celebration and PR campaign to tout the artist internationally…
and within Italy it was a really big deal… lots of press.
One day, someone on the
planning committee for this national hoopla gets the idea to follow up on a
story that Amadeo, in his sculpture studio in Livorno (a town near Pisa), had
thrown several carved heads into the canal behind his workshop in a fit of
passion. The big idea? To dreg the canal and find the heads! It would be a
spectacular find, lots of PR and they would find several unknown works by the
master!
I was in Italy at the time,
visiting the CNR research and analytical labs in Milano poking around the Last
Supper pigment samples when this drama unfolded.
It was very exciting as the
crane pulled the large scoop through the mud and guess what??!! In the process,
up came four heads that were unmistakingly Modigliani! What a find! Italy went
nuts. It was in all the papers, on TV, replayed a millions times.
Immediately, the committee went
to five or six of the most famous art historians in Italy for confirmation that
these newly found marble heads were by Modigliani. Of course, the experts had
seen the heads come up out of the canal behind his studio on TV. Of course the
experts were even willing to authenticate the new finds, they gave their
bombastic opinions, grabbed some free publicity… all by phone.
Then they took the heads to the
analytical labs for analysis to confirm the authentication and, of course, the
scientists had also seen on TV the heads come out of the canal behind
Modigliani’s studio and blessed them as authentic with only a cursory look. The
CNR lab I was visiting had also been consulted on this find and had given them
two thumbs up with only a superficial look.
I think it may have been on the
nationally famous host, Mike Buongiorno’s TV talk show that they were
discussing excitedly (everything was exciting on Mike Buongiorno’s talk show!)
the monumental find and taking call ins. In the middle of the show, on live
national TV, they get a call in from two guys that claimed that they had made
three of the heads with their Black
and Decker power chisel, washed them in acid and had dumped them into the canal
as a joke… and they had shot of video of them doing it to prove it!
Oh my gosh… talking about
stirring up a hornet’s nest! These guy’s claim spread like wild fire over the
media so when Mike Buongiorno brought these two guys on his TV show and they
showed the video of every step they went through including dumping the heads
into the canal, ALL of Italy was watching.
You never saw so much
scrambling, accusations, humming and hawing going on among art experts! The
Italian art historians and analytical labs were the laughing stalk of the
international art community… which is exactly why the forgers said they had
done their deed; to embarrass the pompous art scholars.
But wait! That still left one
other head that was probably authentic! Well, a day or so after the fire storm
died down and the two forgers we not arrested, Mike Buongiorno received
another phone call, while on
live TV. A second party was claiming to have made the fourth head and had a
video to prove it. Turns out that someone else had the same idea but was
working totally independent.
The next day, in the national
newspaper, The Repubblica, the following delicious ad was run by Black and
Decker
“Its
easy to be good with Black and Decker”
The moral of the story was
underlined for me during the heated discussions at the CNR labs while I was
there: If you are an expert and people depend on your expertise, ALWAYS check
things out and apply your knowledge. Don’t ever assume or take other people’s
(expert’s) word for it. Check out the details and give an informed decision
worthy of your expertise and reputation.
I thought this ad was
hilarious. I’ve got it framed in my art conservation lab to remind me to always
check things out for myself when I’m asked my opinion.
So, you can imagine that I took
seriously the request to look over an inherited work of art, a Modigliani
hopeful, for the Kardasian family, who wanted to put the whole process on their
TV program, “Keeping Up With The Kardasians.” The entertaining video clip from
that episode can be found at the bottom of the list of links on this
Here
are a few more art authentication thoughts that may entertain
you: https://www.fineartconservationlab.com/research-and-authentication/new-twists-on- authenticating-artwork/
Artnet magazine lead off its
well written expose’ on difficulties in the Modigliani market and the issues
with authenticating a Modigliani: http://news.artnet.com/people/kardashians- dreams-dashed-by-fake-modigliani-62526
Scott M. Haskins FineArtConservator
Please do not publish. All rights reserved,
Copyrighted 2020.
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