The rediscovered painting of the African prince by Gustav Klimt, who attracted the attention of visitors at the Tefaf Maastricht Fair in the Netherlands, is for sale.
An early, almost photorealistic head and shoulder portrait of Prince William Ne Näty Dowona, shown against the flower background, was on display at the Wienero Nozi and Kohlbacher booth.
“We are actively negotiating with major museums,” said Louis Winaro Aus, co-founder of the gallery, but he refused to name the facility. Unlike Contemporary Art Fairs, a valuable sale at Tefaf Maastricht, a specialized in old art, is finalized after the event, allowing buyers time to investigate issues of origin and belonging. “We have to follow the due diligence process,” Winaro said.
The man painted in this 26-inch-high painting was a member of a group of Africans on the Gold Coast (now known as Ghana), a live display of the colonial “human zoo” that toured Europe at the end of the 19th century. In the summer of 1896 they were exhibited in a mock African village in the Zoo Gardens in Vienna. The highly popular show, captivated 5,000-6,000 visitors a day, was vividly evoked by contemporary Austrian writer Peter Altenberg in his novel “Ashantee.”
Wienerro Elly and Kohlbacher say that in 2023 Klimt's paintings were revealed. The dealer says he discovered the barely readable Gustav Klimt Estate Stamp behind the canvas, confirming it with Alfred Wydinder, author of the definitive catalogue of Klimt's work.
Subsequent research revealed that the painting was belonged to Klimt when he died in 1918 and sold at auction from his property in 1923.
As she was Jewish, Klein and her husband Felix were forced to leave Austria in 1938, when it was annexed by Nazi Germany, and they survived the war in Monaco. Wienerroithoder and Kohlbacher said in a statement that the paintings are being sold “in accordance with a settlement agreement” between Klein's heirs and the current owner of the work. The statement added that Austrian authorities have granted export licenses to the work.
The gallery was originally intended to show Klimt at Tefaf Maastricht last year, but it was withdrawn before the event opened.
“We had to make sure there were problems with the contract and there were no other heirs to assert the painting,” Wienerro said. “Percentages are always a question,” he adds, referring to the potentially controversial issue of splitting the revenues of compensation sales between claimants. “It took time.”
Experts say the painting, made in the year when Klimt and other advanced artists formed the Vienna succession group, represents a crucial moment in the artist's career.
“The portrait of the Ghanaian prince shows the transition to a new stage in his artistic development,” Klimt scholar Wydinder said in an email. “It anticipates an important element of his later portraits. In particular, using a symbolic floral motif in the background establishes the stylistic principle that Klimt develops consistently from this point onwards.”
A similar iconic floral motif characterizes the background of a mysterious 1917 portrait of a young woman, sold for $37 million at an auction held in Vienna last April.
Klimt is one of the most admired and coveted people of all contemporary artists, with the auction price for his work recently reaching $108.4 million. The more modest price tag by Wienerroithoill and Kohlbacher reflects that this latest Klimt painting, which is sold, is a relatively small, unsigned early work that lacks the decorative luxury of the artist's later works.
“It is the only Klimt painting on the market and it's an important job,” Wienerro said.
