Inside the Enigma of Klimt's Lost Portrait
Gustav Klimt's mysterious African prince portrait
"Portrait of Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona" was believed to be lost for a very long period. The nobleman was shown by Gustav Klimt in 1897, but the picture has not been viewed since 1938.
The painting is currently for sale at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands, for €15 million ($16.3 million), following a recent resurgence that made a stir in the art world.
The extremely stained artwork was brought to the gallery of Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Viennese art dealers who specialize in Klimt's paintings, by a collector couple.
According to gallery managing director Alois Wienerroither, "it was a huge surprise for us," DW said.
The owners of the gallery did not immediately see the treasure beneath the dirt, despite their more than 25 years of Klimt experience.
The painting is currently for sale at the TEFAF art fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands, for €15 million ($16.3 million), following a recent resurgence that made a stir in the art world.
The extremely stained artwork was brought to the gallery of Wienerroither & Kohlbacher, Viennese art dealers who specialize in Klimt's paintings, by a collector couple.
According to gallery managing director Alois Wienerroither, "it was a huge surprise for us," DW said.
The owners of the gallery did not immediately see the treasure beneath the dirt, despite their more than 25 years of Klimt experience.
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"We looked at the painting, it was dirty and also had a bad frame, it didn't look like Klimt at all," said Wienerroither.
After cleaning it, however, there was no doubt that it was Klimt's lost painting of a West African prince from what is now Ghana.
Gustav Klimt: a pioneer of the Austrian avant-garde
One of Austria's most significant artists of the late 19th century was the Viennese painter Gustav Klimt (1862–1918).
His abstract portraits of women, including "The Kiss" and "The Golden Woman," are especially well-known, and he is regarded as a representative of Viennese art nouveau.
Klimt and fifty other like-minded avant-garde artists formed the so-called "Vienna Secession" in 1897 with the goal of abandoning the realistic style of historical painting and embracing art nouveau. Klimt served as the new association's president.
Klimt produced the portrait of the West African prince during a time of change; it was realistic yet hinted at what will be included in subsequent pieces.
His abstract portraits of women, including "The Kiss" and "The Golden Woman," are especially well-known, and he is regarded as a representative of Viennese art nouveau.
Klimt and fifty other like-minded avant-garde artists formed the so-called "Vienna Secession" in 1897 with the goal of abandoning the realistic style of historical painting and embracing art nouveau. Klimt served as the new association's president.
Klimt produced the portrait of the West African prince during a time of change; it was realistic yet hinted at what will be included in subsequent pieces.
International ethnographic exhibitions in Vienna
The most up-to-date art historical research suggests the prince posed for Klimt as part of one of Vienna's so-called Völkerschau ethnographic exhibitions.
Though widely seen as racist and undignified spectacles from today's perspective, such "human zoos" were popular at the turn of the century.
The exhibitions took place across Europe, including in Germany, and saw people representing various ethnic groups kept in open spaces, like animals in a zoo, presented for public gawking under adverse conditions.
How did Klimt and the prince meet?
It had long been unclear how Klimt actually met the West African prince but in 2007, art historian, photographer and museum manager Alfred Weidinger published a catalogue of Klimt's paintings that documented the fact that the director of the Vienna Zoo had invited representatives of the West African Osu tribe to visit Austria in 1897.
As the group's leader, Prince William Nii Nortey Dowuona, the nephew of the Osu king, was dispatched to Vienna.
The prince was not only portrayed by Klimt, but also by Franz Matsch, whose picture of Nii Nortey Dowuona is on display in Luxembourg's Musee National d'Histoire et d'Art.
Thrilling drama unfolds around prince's painting
Ernestine Klein purchased Klimt's studio after his death in 1918 and turned it into a residence. Although there is no record of the sale, it is possible that she purchased the image at an auction in Vienna in 1923. However, the matching auction catalog does have a black-and-white photograph of the painting.
The picture reappeared at a Klimt exhibition in 1928, ten years after Klimt's passing.
According to Wienerroither, who had set out to determine the painting's origin, "and that's when we were able to find the return receipt," DW reported. "Ernestine Klein got the painting back from the exhibition and signed for it."
But when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis conquered Austria in 1938, the family had to escape the National Socialists since her husband was Jewish. "Every sign points to the fact that they left everything they owned inside the house. "Everything was gone when they returned after the war," Wienerroither remarked.
The gallery owner believes the picture was sold through private art dealers because it was never offered for sale following the war.
But when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis conquered Austria in 1938, the family had to escape the National Socialists since her husband was Jewish. "Every sign points to the fact that they left everything they owned inside the house. "Everything was gone when they returned after the war," Wienerroither remarked.
The gallery owner believes the picture was sold through private art dealers because it was never offered for sale following the war.
When paintings confiscated or stolen by the National Socialists, for example, come up for sale, their origin and provenance must be checked. Wienerroither therefore visited Klein's descendants, with whom he reached a financial agreement.
"There are several heirs and it took a long time until we finally negotiated an agreement," he said.
Visit to the prince's family
And yet, the story doesn't end here either. In Ghana, it is just the begining. "It's been proven who this prince is, and the descendants have even been traced," said Wienerroither.
Again, it was a mere coincidence.
"Alfred Weidinger, who wrote the Klimt catalog, had been taking photos of kings in Africa for years," said Wienerroither. This is how he tracked down the family of William Nii Nortey Dowuona in Ghana.
"He is now in contact with the family. It's unbelievable. Apparently, they still have items they brought back from Vienna, they're still in the family," said Wienerroither.
Meanwhile, a meeting has been planned with Weidinger and William Nii Nortey Dowuona's descendants in Ghana. The story of Klimt, the West African prince and the journey of the painting that sprung from that meeting will be the subject of an upcoming 50-minute television documentary.
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