SA’s Israeli embassy in sculpture snafu

GILLIAN KLAWANSKY

The enormous red work, which once stood tall in the courtyard of the Israeli embassy in Pretoria, comprised a series of pipes designed to imitate veins. To the untrained eye, its aesthetic and monetary worth were not obvious.

Villa (1915-2011) was a world-renowned South African sculptor of Italian descent who worked primarily in steel and bronze, and was known as the “Picasso of South Africa”. The statue was a rare work which came with the embassy property when Israel purchased it 37 years ago.

With an estimated value of between $100 000 and $500 000 (R1.2 million and R6 million), the statue was an important part of South Africa’s artistic heritage. Yet only a few people at the embassy knew the name of the sculptor and the statue’s history or value – and those in the know didn’t pass on this information to new staff members.

Indeed, the current Israeli ambassador, Lior Keinan, and the administrative officer were completely unaware. There was apparently no information about the statue in any documentation relating to the embassy, leaving them in the dark about its value.

Before leaving Israel, the ambassador made a point of reading every document that had been written for a decade about the embassy, but there was apparently nothing about this statue.

Standing out in the garden for so many years, the work became rusty, a bit rickety and unattractive, with little hint of its true value. The administrator and staff were concerned about its state of disrepair and worried that it might break or fall on someone during an embassy event.

Aside from her safety concerns, the administrator considered the statue an eyesore and wanted to get rid of it.

Yet former Israeli ambassador Arthur Lenk blocked this move as he reportedly knew of the work’s monetary value and artistic worth. But he didn’t explain his reasons to the administrator, who thought he simply liked the statue.

After Lenk left, the administrator heard that the University of Pretoria had been interested in taking the statue as it had a collection of such pieces – and she grabbed the opportunity. Completely unaware of its worth, Keinan agreed to the move, happy that it would be donated to an educational institution rather than land on a junk heap. He was also apparently grateful that it wouldn’t pose an injury risk during upcoming Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations.

The statue was removed in January this year, when the ambassador was away, and now forms part of the university’s Edoardo Villa Museum. Israel remained in the dark about the donation until a senior ministry official visited the embassy, noticed the statue’s absence and lodged a complaint.

According to the website Ynetnews, Israel had previously received offers of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the statue but had steadfastly refused, calling it an Israeli and South African “treasure”.

The first that Keinan heard of its value and history was when the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs launched an investigation into the incident. He was shocked, but by then it was too late to get it back – the donation had already been made.

Perhaps the administrator should have approached the ministry to ask questions about the statue, acknowledges the embassy, but nobody indicated to her that there was reason to. Deeply upset by the incident, the administrator – who’s been with the embassy for only about a year and a half – found herself in a tough spot.

The Israeli foreign ministry’s investigation has now been completed. Concluding that there was no malicious intent, the investigative report stated that it was a serious, bad mistake and that the administrator should have asked more questions.

“It was an innocent mistake,” says an embassy spokesperson. “We were never informed of the history and background to this piece, and so we didn’t know it had any value at all. At least we didn’t throw it away, but rather donated it to form part of the University of Pretoria’s collection.”