Amedeo Modigliani
Female nude reclining on left side, head leaning on left hand – Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Modigliani
Female nude reclining on left side
Date : 1909
Dimensions : H : 20 cm ; L : 31 cm
place of production: Paris ( France )
Material : Charcoal on paper
Condition : Very good condition
References : Musée d’art moderne, Paris / Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / Centre Pompidou, Paris / Ohara museum of Art, Kurashiki
Conditions & disponibilité: Framed
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Description
of work
Female nude reclining on left side, head leaning on left hand
Presented in the book Modigliani inconnu, this drawing is one of a series of ink and wash studies of the reclining nude.
Highlighted in a black frame with gold sheen, the work is presented in a mount with conservation board and UV-protective glass (Perspex).
This work has been exhibited many times: in New York at the Jewish Museum, in Livorno at the City Museum and in Vienna at the Albertina Museum.
Acquired directly by Paul Alexandre from Amedeo Modigliani, this drawing was passed down to the current owner.
Happiness is an angel with a grave face. Amedeo Modigliani - May 6, 1913
Amedeo Modigliani
LIVOURNE (FRANCE) 1884 – PARIS (FRANCE) 1920
Emblematic figure of the complete Parisian Bohemian artist, Amedeo Modigliani is one of the most important artists of the early 20th century’s Avant-Garde, through his paintings, sculptures and above all his refined, synthetic drawings, which reflect his entire art and his all-too-short career.
Born in Livorno, Tuscany, to a Jewish merchant family on July 12, 1884, Amedeo Modigliani was a sickly child who was irresistibly drawn to art from an early age. Affected by typhoid and tuberculosis, he came close to death several times, which convinced his mother to let him study art with the Livornese painter Micheli, and prompted her to take Modigliani as a teenager to the south of Italy to regain his health. Between 1900 and 1902, he spent time in Naples, Capri, Florence and Rome, where he immersed himself in the Antiques that were to pepper his drawing and sculptural work, which was strongly influenced by Antiquity, as evidenced by the many caryatids, hieratic and hellenizing female figures he would later draw.
In 1906, he moved to Paris and was introduced to the artistic bohemia of the Montmartre district, which he frequented like Picasso at the Bateau-Lavoir. A year later, he met Dr. Paul Alexandre, who had just graduated at the age of 26. Dr. Paul had made available to his artist friends a pavilion slated for demolition on rue du Delta in Montmartre, which he rented from the City of Paris. Among the Delta’s regulars were Constantin Brancusi, who would influence Modigliani’s transition to sculpture, and Henri Doucet, who introduced the penniless and still unknown painter to Dr. Alexandre. The latter was immediately won over, and became Modigliani’s main admirer and sole patron. “I was immediately struck by his extraordinary talent and wanted to do something for him. I bought drawings and canvases from him, but I was his only buyer, and I wasn’t rich,” says Dr. Alexandre. Poverty marked the life of the Livornese painter. While the artists of the Delta pavilion worked as waiters or handymen alongside their production to earn a living, Modigliani refused any work that distracted him from his art: “He only wanted his art […] he was a born aristocrat. […] He had an exclusive passion for art. There was no question of abandoning, even for a moment, for what he saw as sordid tasks, the very thing that made him what he was“.
During these years, Modigliani created a spontaneous drawing system with clear, simplifying strokes, always focused on the direct view, which synthesizes forms and attempts to capture the inner essence of his model. He defined his art as follows: “With one eye, observe the outside world; with the other, look deep inside oneself”. He draws a great deal, repeating the same strokes, the same models, until he achieves the desired purity of line. As for sculpture, which became his main occupation from 1909 onwards, he practiced drawing indefinitely before moving on to direct carving. His subjects were his female muses, nudes, antique subjects such as caryatids, and the world of theater and the circus, which he loved and which was very present at the Delta.
Paul Alexandre commissioned him to paint portraits, and in 1910 entered him in the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, where he exhibited six paintings.
In 1914, Doctor Alexandre was mobilized for the war and the two friends separated, never to see each other again. The painter found in Paul Guillaume a new exclusive patron until 1916, when Léopold Zborowski, a Polish poet, became his dealer and agent. In 1917, he meets Jeanne Hébuterne, a young art student who becomes his latest muse, inspires his series of large nudes and from whom he will have a daughter, Jeanne. Consumed by alcohol and tuberculosis, he died in a Paris hospital on January 24, 1920, aged just 35. In despair, Jeanne Hébuterne took her own life two days later and joined his remains in a common grave at Père Lachaise.
While 80% of Modigliani’s 337 paintings were produced between 1914 and 1919 and are representative of the artist’s late-life style, the drawings produced throughout his career better represent the entire body of work of this all-round artist
sources
Publication:
The Unknown Modigliani, by Noël Alexandre, Mercatorfonds, 1993. Page 356 [No. 336]
Exhibitions :
– Jewish Museum, New York, September 2017 – February 2018
– Museo della Citta di Livorno, 2019-2020
– The Albertina Museum, Vienne, 2021-2022