In 1942, the Museum of Modern Art exhibited a decorated shoeshine kit—thought to be lost—made by a Sicilian immigrant said to be named Joe Milone. In 2014, the piece of the self-taught artist surfaced as well as his true name and identity.
Sixty-six years ago, the Museum of Modern Art exhibited a Sicilian-American bootblack’s decorated shoeshine kit, contributing to the museum director’s eventual dismissal.
