Ibrahim Kodra

Ibrahim Shaban Likmetaj Kodra was born on April 22, 1918, in Ishem, a small village in central Albania. After his scientific studies, he attended the Odhise Paskali School of Art in Tirana. In 1938 he won a scholarship provided by the Queen of Albania and realized his dream of coming to study in Milan at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Fundamental for him was the teaching of Carrà, Carpi and Funi, who would follow him through his academy years with courses in painting and fresco. In 1942 he won another scholarship because he was considered the best student at Brera. The following year he graduated and participated in the Youth Exhibition at the Permanente in Milan. He opened his studio in Milan and joined the group Oltre Guernica, with which he exhibited in a famous group show in via Brera. In 1947 he met Paul Eluard and the following year Pablo Picasso. Both are impressed by the Albanian artist's works: the former writes "Kodra is the primitive of a new society," the latter says " Even your signature is a work of art." Kodra began to exhibit successfully all over the world, from New York to Tokyo, from Palermo to Stuttgart. He participated in 1953 in the international collective at the University of Paris and in 1954 exhibited with Picasso, Rouault, Dufy, Matisse and Modigliani in Chiavari. His works are influenced by the post-Cubist influence of the early postwar period and are enriched by the memory of his homeland, a close and tradition-rich East, a meeting of cultures on the Mediterranean. His figures, daughters of Picasso's Harlequins, fit into visionary environments filled with light: luminous tiles that recall Byzantine experience. His works are held in museums and private collections, for example in the Vatican Museum. He died in Milan on February 7, 2006, and is buried in Albania, as expressed in his last will.