ONE OF MY FAVORITES- AMEDEO MODIGLIANI
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI (1884-1920)
Modigliani an Italian painter and sculptor, was one of the most fascinating personalities of the School of Paris in its heroic years and a mannerist with a personal touch.
Amedeo Modigliani was born on July 12, 1884, in Leghorn to a distinguished, well-to-do Italian-Jewish family. He first studied under Guglielmo Micheli, a minor painter in the Macchiaioli group, and then at the academies of Florence and Venice, where he was greatly influenced by the art of the Renaissance. All his work echoes the painting of the Sienese 14th century, Sandro Botticelli, and the mannerists.
In 1907 Modigliani arrived in Paris, where, in the Montmartre district, he lived a truly bohemian life. He met the avant-garde young artists and took part in their discussions. Aristocratic, good-looking, and melancholy, he undermined his health through alcoholism, drugs, and an uninhibited way of living.
The classically balanced character of Paul Cézanne's mature work impressed itself early (1909) and decisively on Modigliani's sensitive mind. His distinctive style resulted from a combination of his predilection for a musical outline, a thoroughgoing simplification of form, and the impact of African sculpture (to which he was introduced by his friend Constantin Brancusi) . Modigliani's sculptures of 1909-1915 also owe something to African tribal styles.
Modigliani was predominantly a painter of nudes and portraits, first working under the influence of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, whom he admired. The infinite variety of the human face, its expression as type and individual, the sinuous contours of the female nudes, their ingenious placement within the framework of the picture, the new and unexpected angles from which they were visualized - all these were Modigliani's favorite themes.
Modigliani's masterpieces were created between 1915 and 1919. It seems that he had matured all at once. In 1918 he took part in a group show at the Berthe Weill Gallery; his nudes provoked a scandal and the police closed the show. Although helped to some extent by his family, Modigliani was often near starvation, owing to the excesses of his style of living.
Modigliani's health was delicate, and he had to spend the winter of 1918/1919 in Cannes. He returned to Paris in the spring of 1919 for the birth of a daughter borne by his young mistress and model Jeanne Hébuterne. The following winter he contracted tuberculosis and was taken to a hospital, where he died in a charity ward on Jan. 25, 1920.
This is by far one of my favorite of the nudes he did.It really isn't so much that the model is naked.I think for me it is more in the way he has painted her.It might even be in the pose there is something very erotic and sensuous about the composition.
This next painting shows how he manipulated the head of some of his subjects.I absolutely love how he accentuates the length of the neck.Absolutely beautiful.
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