Jilani ABDUL WAHAB dit ABDUL [Tunisian] (1889-1961) - Lot 26

Jilani ABDUL WAHAB dit ABDUL [Tunisian] (1889-1961) Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, view of Fort Saint-André, circa 1920 Oil on canvas. Signed lower left. 46 x 55 cm Provenance : - Collection of Thérèse Hummel, friend of Modigliani. Jilani Abdelwaheb (1889-1961), known as Abdul, was born in Salammbô in 1889. His ambition was to become a painter. He studied at the prestigious Eton College in Brighton, England, before moving to Paris in 1911, where he frequented the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens. In 1912, he became the first Tunisian to exhibit at the Salon Tunisien, held at the Palais des Sociétés françaises, presenting three paintings. In the 1920s, he also participated in the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Tuileries. A loyal friend of Modigliani, who who painted his portrait in 1916, he also rubbed shoulders with Picasso, Ortiz de Zárate, Papazoff, Cingria and Pascin. Now very rare on the market, most of his works were bequeathed by his wife, Beppo, to the Villa del Río, near Cordoba in Andalusia. In 1984, Tunisia paid tribute to him by issuing a stamp reproducing a view of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, almost identical to the one in our painting.