Often plagiarized, Modigliani continues to be the subject of a heated fight between specialists, particularly Marc Restellini, who had prepared the last catalog raisonné of the artist and whose documents were pumped out by the Wildenstein-Plattner Institute, who plans to put it online for free. Therefore Restellini decided to file a complaint against the Institute in the federal court of New York for having violated his rights.
Restellini had worked for many years for the Wildenstein Institute on developing a catalog raisonné of Modigliani's work. Wildenstein put an end to their collaboration after Restellini had disputed the authenticity of several paintings by the artist held by wealthy collectors.
The Wildenstein-Plattner Institute has so far not responded to Restellini's grievances by simply saying that it was a publicity stunt before adding that the Institute was certain to be in his right law by publishing a catalog for the public.
Died young, Modigliani was a cursed artist both through a career cut short and by the problems posed about the authentication of some of his works which brought together several experts, who have already published five catalogs raisonne, the most reliable being that of Ceroni.
The war around Modigliani has earned Restellini death threats when he worked until 2014 for the Wildenstein Institute who intends to use its archives to publish them on the Net.
November 2016 Guy Wildenstein approached German collector and businessman Hasso Plattner to create their institute whose aim is to digitize and put online documents referring to art history. On this occasion, Guy offered his new partner the files of Restellini, who remains determined to complete his catalog after many years of effort.
The trouble is that the institute refused to return its archives to Restellini. Under the pretext of philanthropic work devoid of any profit, which led it to take legal action in the United States to assert its rights, arguing that Guy Wildenstein had no authority to transfer these to his association with Plattner.
© Artcult.com
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