Italy: Modigliani art exhibit found to be full of fakes
ROME: Consumer advocates in Italy demanded refunds for ticketholders after an expert concluded that almost all the paintings in a Genoa exhibition devoted to Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani were fakes.
The expert, appointed by a Genoa court as part of a prosecutor’s probe, determined that at least 20 of the 21 paintings displayed during the 2017 Ducal Palace exhibit were clearly forged, Italian news agency ANSA reported.
The palace shuttered the show in July, three days before the scheduled end of its four-month run, after prosecutors began investigating the doubts art experts had expressed over the authenticity of the paintings being attributed to Modigliani.
The palace, which had outsourced the show to private organisers, is itself seeking damages for the embarrassment caused by the episode.
Consumer advocate Furio Truzzi urged exhibition-goers on Wednes- day to seek refunds based on fraud.
His organisation set up a hotline for people who bought tickets or travelled to Genoa to see the show.
Noted Italian art collector Carlo Pepi, who was among the critics who questioned the provenance of the works displayed in Genoa, described the paintings as “garbage”.
Modigliani, the early 20th century artist whose style as a painter and sculptor was distinguished by elongated necks and faces, died in poverty in Paris in 1920.
In closing down the exhibit in July, the Ducal Palace noted that it had outsourced the organisation of the show, including the selection of the works to be displayed.
The palace said it would “seek legal protection for its rights and public image”.
The owners of the paintings put on display in Genoa were likely to seek a counter-opinion from other experts, since actual works by Modigliani would be worth millions of dollars.