I want to put this out there... Modigliani was kind of disturbed man. But who doesn't like a little damage in a person?... I know that I do. I found myself really falling in love with his portraits. His elongated faces give each portrait an abstract feel and I am really happy to be sharing some of his work with you today.
Modigliani was described by the sculpture Zadkine "...as a young god, masquerading as a work man in his Sunday best... He was very good looking." Nice huh? Dreamy Modigliani. "He loved Dante and was a poet, drunk or not he could recant Divine Comedy in Italian and would do it for his friends whether they understood or not" (Hubbard).
Alice (1915)
For much of his life, Modigliani was better known as a character than as a painter. Some 40 years after his death, his daughter, Jeanne Modigliani, wrote that some people nearly swooned at his suave, cultivated manner, while others found him “an unbearable buffoon” and a “boring, drunken spoilsport.” (Jeanne, a toddler when her parents died, was raised by her father’s sister in Italy. She knew her father only from interviews, letters and other documents. An artist and writer, she died in 1984 at age 66.)" (Stewart).
"Modigliani painted human beings... nicknamed Dedo or Modi (modi short for maudit, he was the cursed painter) - the lover and drinking mate, the rowdy daredevil is the sick and lonely expatriate.. yet all he painted and all that survived of his art can be reduced to one single statement Modigliani painted human beings" (Kruszynski).
Born in 1884, died in 1920.
"Modigliani painted human beings... nicknamed Dedo or Modi (modi short for maudit, he was the cursed painter) - the lover and drinking mate, the rowdy daredevil is the sick and lonely expatriate.. yet all he painted and all that survived of his art can be reduced to one single statement Modigliani painted human beings" (Kruszynski).
Born in 1884, died in 1920.
Gypsy and Girl (1919)
I know that I have a prejudice of gypsies but I think that this painting is beautiful. The setting is so simple. I wonder if she is a little tired...“Modigliani in his personal life is almost a caricature of the misunderstood bohemian painter,” says Tamar Garb, an art historian at University College London. “If Van Gogh is the quintessential mad genius, Modigliani is the quintessential tubercular alcoholic” (Stewart).
He was inspired in his early work by Cezanne and he knew Renoir.
"His clarity of structure and composition, quite contrary to the chaos that characterized his private life" (Kruszynski).
He was inspired in his early work by Cezanne and he knew Renoir.
"His clarity of structure and composition, quite contrary to the chaos that characterized his private life" (Kruszynski).
Self portrait of him above and with his signature scarf.
Modigliani was born in Italy. He was the youngest of 4 children. He is jewish. It is said that his birth saved his family from complete poverty. It was a law that you could not take the bed of a pregnant woman, so when their house went into foreclosure, they piled all of their precious belongings on the bed so that the bank couldn't take it.
He sketched with on contour line like Picasso (Hubbard)
Modigliani was born in Italy. He was the youngest of 4 children. He is jewish. It is said that his birth saved his family from complete poverty. It was a law that you could not take the bed of a pregnant woman, so when their house went into foreclosure, they piled all of their precious belongings on the bed so that the bank couldn't take it.
He sketched with on contour line like Picasso (Hubbard)
Before he painted he sculpted. You can see how his painting style is similar to his sculpting style. "Modigliani carved a series of large, highly stylized stone heads. With their impossibly long noses and tiny pursed mouths, the massive works combined the serenity of early Renaissance tomb sculpture with the exotic spookiness of Easter Island monoliths...“The influence of tribal art, especially African sculpture, on the avant-garde in Paris during this period cannot be overestimated,” says Mason Klein, associate curator at the Jewish Museum, who believes that Modigliani’s acute awareness of himself as a Jew (if a nonpracticing one) and an outsider opened him to the richness of non-Western art. “If you look at his sculpture,” says Klein, “you see the influence of not only African art but Khmer art and the art of archaic Greece, ancient Egypt and Rome. You even see some of the iconic presence of Byzantine art” (Stewart).
I think that they are quite stunning, but I love his paintings more.
I think that they are quite stunning, but I love his paintings more.
"Amedeo couldn't be anyone but himself.
Absurd and magnificent.
A little embarrassing.
Genius is sometimes like that."
Adres Salmon
Absurd and magnificent.
A little embarrassing.
Genius is sometimes like that."
Adres Salmon
Jeanne Hebuterne
Jeanne Hebuterne was Modigliani's lover and common law wife. She was 19 when they met and an art student. They met in 1917 and were together for three years. She was catholic and denounced by her family once she moved in with Modigliani. It sounds like their relationship was pretty volatile at times. She found out she was pregnant and they separated for a while. Their public arguments became more famous than Modigliani's drunken displays. She was 9 months pregnant when Amedeo died and days later she jumped out of a 5 story building, killing her and her unborn child and leaving her daughter Jeanne, a toddler at the time, orphaned. It's a modern day Romeo and Juliet except somehow way more tragic.
He painted over 10 paintings of her. I think overall she looks extremely peaceful and innocent.
He painted over 10 paintings of her. I think overall she looks extremely peaceful and innocent.
"He strove continuously to learn about their inner selves and their motivation" (Terrace).
HIs paintings seem melancholy to me. I love his style. He's not super revered in the art critic world but he recently had a painting go for $65 million. So I'm guessing he's pretty good. Maurice Berger, who has examined the artist’s posthumous reputation, says that Modigliani has “never been a darling of Modernist art historians, who consider his work perhaps not that important, but the public has always loved it: its elegance, its refinement, its panache. And people always love a good story" (Stewart)
After I did a blog entry on Juan Gris, I have not been able to get Modigliani out of my head. I am love him very much. I find he captures the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. I think that a lot of his paintings reflect his difficulties in life.
HIs paintings seem melancholy to me. I love his style. He's not super revered in the art critic world but he recently had a painting go for $65 million. So I'm guessing he's pretty good. Maurice Berger, who has examined the artist’s posthumous reputation, says that Modigliani has “never been a darling of Modernist art historians, who consider his work perhaps not that important, but the public has always loved it: its elegance, its refinement, its panache. And people always love a good story" (Stewart)
After I did a blog entry on Juan Gris, I have not been able to get Modigliani out of my head. I am love him very much. I find he captures the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. I think that a lot of his paintings reflect his difficulties in life.
"In 1920 exhausted by poverty, illness, drugs, and alcohol, he was hospitalized. "I am leaving the mud behind. I now know all there is to know, and soon I'll be no more than a handful of dust, he said to Zborowski. I've kissed my wife. Please take her back to her parents. This it he right moment. Anyhow we're sure of eternal happiness, she and I whatever happens. [He] died a few days later...Of the goods of this her had had almost nothing. But he never felt spiritually poor" (Hubbard).
He never felt spiritually poor, that's something to think about.
I have use a lot of quotes but I just felt that what others said gave us insight into this man. A lot of people refer to him as a caricature, but I think he found his niche and he was amazing in that niche.
He never felt spiritually poor, that's something to think about.
I have use a lot of quotes but I just felt that what others said gave us insight into this man. A lot of people refer to him as a caricature, but I think he found his niche and he was amazing in that niche.
Sources:
Modigliani and the Painters of Montparnesse by Helen Hubbard
Amedeo Modigliani Portraits and Nudes by Arnett Kruszynski
Modigliani Beyond the Myth Edited by Mason Klein
Modigliani by Pierre Terracehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/modigliani.html?c=y&page=1
Modigliani and the Painters of Montparnesse by Helen Hubbard
Amedeo Modigliani Portraits and Nudes by Arnett Kruszynski
Modigliani Beyond the Myth Edited by Mason Klein
Modigliani by Pierre Terracehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Modigliani
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/modigliani.html?c=y&page=1