MODIGLIANI

23 November 2017 – 2 April 2018

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RO OM 1–11 CONTENTS

Room 1 4

Room 2 7

Room 3 18

Room 4 28

Room 5 36

Room 6 43

Room 7 53

Room 8 68

Room 9 77

Room 10 85

Room 11 91

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11 Let us know what you think  #Modigliani 3 ROOM 1

4 Open To Change

When Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) decided to leave Italy to develop his career as an artist, there was only one place to go. In 1906, at the age of 21, he moved to Paris.

Many factors shaped his decision. Born in the port city of Livorno, he belonged to an educated family of Sephardic Jews (descended from Spain and Portugal), who encouraged his ambition and exposed him to languages and literature. He had seen great Renaissance art and had trained as a painter. But Paris offered excitement. Paris offered variety. There he would encounter ways of thinking, seeing and behaving that challenged and shaped his work.

This exhibition opens with a self-portrait, painted around 1915, in which Modigliani presents himself as the tragic clown Pierrot. His contemporaries would have recognised the reference instantly as, at the time, the figure appeared in countless pictures, plays and films. A young person shaping their identity could relate to Pierrot, a stock character open to interpretation, linked to the past and looking towards the future. Pierrot could be comedic, melancholy or romantic, played by any actor or painted by any artist. In a new place, among new people, the work signals that Modigliani was ready to invent himself.

5 Self-Portrait as Pierrot

1915 Oil paint on cardboard

Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen X63604 1

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7 City Life

Soon after his arrival in Paris, Modigliani began to look at progressive contemporary art. He absorbed the influence of the works he saw, by artists ranging from the recently deceased Paul Cézanne, to his near-contemporary Kees van Dongen. Loose brushwork and bright colours made an appearance as he abandoned a more polished, traditional way of painting. ‘My Italian eyes cannot get used to the light of Paris... Such an all- embracing light... You cannot imagine what new themes I have thought up in violet, deep orange and ochre.’

Modigliani lived at various addresses in the bohemian district of Montmartre. Artists including Pablo Picasso lived nearby. He started to exhibit his work and met his first major patron, Paul Alexandre, who bought many drawings and paintings. He also began to paint female nudes, something that would have proved more difficult in conservative Italy, where willing models were harder to come by.work signals that Modigliani was ready to invent himself.

8 Clockwise from wall text

Female Nude in Right Profile, Three-Quarter Length, Right Arm Beside her Body

Undated Chinese ink on paper

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise Alexandre, 2001, Inv. 2001.2.26 X66392

Standing Harlequin

1908 Watercolour on paper

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise Alexandre, 2001, Inv. 2001.2.22 X66396

9 Bust of a Young Woman

1908 Oil paint on canvas

During his first years in Paris, Modigliani was influenced by the art of his contemporaries. The strong definition of the sitter’s features and the bold use of colour in this portrait recall the work of Dutch artist Kees van Dongen, who drew inspiration from Montmartre’s famous nightlife.

Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art. Donated by Geneviève and Jean Masurel in 1979 Accession number: 979.4.103 X63503

Bust of Young Girl

1908 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63573

10 Nude Study

1908 Oil paint on canvas

Charged with raw expression, this unconventional nude shows the impact that innovative artists, including Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec, had on Modigliani’s work. For this painting and the one to its left, he re-used an old canvas upside down. In both works a face is visible on the lower right-hand side.

Private Collection X63534

Bust of a Young Woman

1911 Oil paint on canvas

The Laterman Family X67345

11 Paul Alexandre in front of a Window

1913 Oil paint on canvas

A young doctor and art collector, Paul Alexandre was Modigliani’s first patron. Together with his brother Jean, whose portrait is also in this room, Alexandre owned a house in Montmartre where he invited artists to live and work. ‘From the day of our first meeting I was struck by his remarkable artistic gifts, and I begged him not to destroy a single sketchbook or a single study. I put the meagre resources I could spare at his disposal.’

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise and Philippe Alexandre, 1988, Inv. 1988.11.2 X63509

Jean-Baptiste Alexandre with a Crucifix

1909 Oil paint on canvas

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise and Philippe Alexandre, 1988, Inv. 1988.11.1 X68669 3

12 Portrait of Pedro

1909 Oil paint on canvas

Museo Soumaya Fundación Carlos Slim Collection, Mexico City X63599

The Beggar of Livorno

1909 Oil paint on canvas

A Paul Cézanne exhibition that Modigliani had seen in 1907 left a lasting impression. This painting, made on a trip to Italy two years later, bears witness to its impact. Vibrant colours and lively brushwork – typical of Cézanne’s work – animate the surface. The artist even kept an image of a Cézanne painting in his pocket.

Private Collection X63555 2

13 Young Gypsy

1909 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63536

Study of Female Nude

Undated Crayon on paper

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen X66396 2001.2.22

Portrait of Mr. Kohler c.1909 Indian ink and crayon on paper

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Bequeathed by Lillian Browse, 2006 X67336

14 The Amazon, Half Length, Three Quarter View

1909 Crayon on paper

In 1909, Jean Alexandre (whose portrait is also on view in this room) commissioned Modigliani to paint his lover Baroness Marguerite de Hasse de Villers. An accomplished horsewoman, she chose to pose in riding dress. This is one of several preparatory drawings for the painting. Jean Alexandre wrote to his brother Paul: ‘The portrait seems to be coming along well, but I’m afraid it will probably change ten times again before it’s finished.’

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise Alexandre, 2001, Inv.2001.2.35 X66391

15 Works in centre of room

The Cellist (front) Portrait of Constantin Brancusi (back)

1909 Oil paint on canvas

With his clean, geometric style, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (seen on the back of this work), had a profound influence on Modigliani. Brancusi found Modigliani a space in the Cité Falguière studios in Montparnasse and encouraged him to return to using stone, a material he had experimented with earlier. Modigliani painted this canvas on both sides, which suggests he had limited funds for art supplies.

Abelló Collection X63481

16 Jean Alexandre (front) Seated Nude (back)

1909 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X65464 4

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18 Modigliani in his workshop at the Bateau Lavoir, Paris, 1915–16 Photo © Tallandier / Bridgeman Images 19 Modigliani’s Paris: Film Projection

Montmartre had a different character to the rest of Paris. When Modigliani arrived in 1906, it was still known as the ‘village on the hill’, located north of the city centre and without its own metro station. Though partly rural – its skyline peppered with windmills – Montmartre’s famous cabarets, theatres and dance venues had earned the neighbourhood a wild reputation. A relatively new attraction – the cinema – became a novel way for Modigliani and his friends (and thousands like them) to spend their evenings. The famous Sacré-Coeur church was still under construction.

In 1909, Modigliani moved to Montparnasse, after the sculptor Constantin Brancusi found him a studio near his own. Serviced by a main train station, the area felt distinctly urban, its wide boulevards accessible by car and important art galleries within walking distance. Fast becoming the centre of the contemporary art scene, Montparnasse attracted artists, writers and poets of all nationalities, who met to while away the hours in cafés such as Le Dôme, La Rotonde and La Closerie des Lilas. For Modigliani, the ramshackle studios of La Ruche (the ‘beehive’), were a home away from home, where he visited artist friends to paint, drink, and sometimes stay the night.

The map marks some of the key places that Modigliani spent time between 1906 and 1920.

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21 1 Modigliani’s Studio, 7 Rue Du Delta c.1908–1909

2 Le Lapin Agile Cabaret, 22 Rue Des Saules

3 Le Bateau Lavoir, Artists’ Studios, 13 Rue Ravignan

4 Mixed-use Space, 62 Rue De Douai Modigliani lived here In 1910 Cinemas were in this building by 1907

5 Grand Palais Des Champs-Élysées 1912 Salon D’Automne Held Here

6 Musée D’Ethnographie Du Trocadéro

7 La Ruche, Artists’ Studios, 2 Passage De Dantzig

8 Modigliani’s Studio, 14 Cité Falguière c.1909–14

9 Café De La Rotonde, Café Du Dôme Boulevard Du Montparnasse

10 Modigliani’s Studio, 8 Rue De La Grande Chaumière, c.1919–20

11 Léopold Zborowski and Hanka Zborowska’s House, 3 Rue Joseph Bara Modigliani painted here, c.1917–19

22 Films in order of appearance

Paris as the Crow Flies, 1912 Lobster Films

Paris and her Monuments, 1912 Lobster Films

Big Wheel, 1912 Lobster Films

Traffic in Paris, 1909 Lobster Films

Paris–New York, 1920 Lobster Films

Paris: The old rural Montmartre disappears, 1911 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont Views of the old Montmartre, 1900

Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont and Pathé Line of women dancing can-can at the Moulin Rouge, 1902 Getty Images

23 L’Olympia theatre: Stacia Napierkowska, Cambodian dance, 1910 Cintemantik

So Was Born the Cinema, c.1895–1920 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont and Pathé

Be in Paris, 1917 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Pathé

At the Gaumont Palace Cinema, near the Lycée Jules Ferry, 1920 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont

Le Rembrandt de la rue Lepic, 1911, director: Jean Durand [starring Gaston Modot] Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont Fiction

Il disinganno di Pierrot, 1915, director: Ugo Falena Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Pathé

La Ruche, from Face of Paris, Le Bateau-Lavoir and La Ruche, 1970 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Pathé

Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957), c.1950s Arts et Culture The Last Artist’s Village, 1970 Gaumont Pathé Archives – collections Pathé

24 Paris: Cubist exhibition at the Salon d’automne, October 1912 Gaumont Pathé Archives - collections Gaumont

25 Photographs in order of appearance

Le Bateau-Lavoir, place Emile Goudeau, Montmartre. January 25, 1952 Getty Images

Pablo Picasso in the workshop of the Bateau-Lavoir, in 1908 Illustration from the article ‘The Wild Men of Paris’, Frank Gelett Burgess (Architectural Record, 5 May 1910) © RMN-Grand Palais (National Picasso Museum-Paris) / Madeleine Coursaget

5 July 1913: Paul Alexandre, standing on the cart, moving from 7 rue de Delta to 10 place Dancourt. In the foreground are two of Modigliani’s paintings. From N. Alexandre, The Unknown Modigliani. Drawings from the collection of Dr. Paul Alexandre, Antwerp 1993

Lapin Agile and rue Saint Vincent, c.1900s ‘Artistic-Cinéma Théâtre’ (later ‘Artistic-Cinéma Pathé’), 62 rue de Douai, 1907 © Bibliothèque nationale de France

The Cité Falguière (shown c.1920) © Albert Harlingue / Roger-Viollet

Jean Cocteau, photograph of Modigliani, Picasso, André Salmon outside La Rotonde, 1916

26 © WorldPhotos / Alamy Stock Photo

Jean Cocteau, photograph of Modigliani, Max Jacob, André Salmon and Manuel Ortiz de Zárate on the Boulevard Montparnasse, 1916 © ADAGP, Paris / DACS, London © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Thierry Le Mage

Constantin Brancusi, c.1914/15 © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / All rights reserved

Constantin Brancusi, La Muse endormie, plaster (after 1910), c.1934–35 © Succession Brancusi-All rights reserved © ADAGP, Paris / DACS, London © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN- Grand Palais / Georges Meguerditchian

Modigliani with a sculpture in the court of the Cité Falguière, c.1912 View of the 1912 Salon d’Automne printed in L’Illustration, 12 October 1912. Image courtesy C.Corbett

Every effort has been made to trace all the relevant copyright holders

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28 Grand Ideas

For a brief but intense period between 1911 and 1913, Modigliani focused almost exclusively on sculpture. He also made many elegant sculptural drawings. Perhaps these were preparatory sketches for sculptures he had in mind – he had plans to create a temple-like structure – although many appear as finished works of art. Caryatids were a recurring theme: classical female figures, with raised arms, who serve as architectural supports.

Visits to Paris museums, including the Louvre and the ethnography museum at the Trocadéro (across the river from the 22-year-old Eiffel Tower), allowed Modigliani and countless other European artists to look at a wide range of historic art. They made liberal use of visual references from antiquities, old master paintings and sculpture from countries including Egypt, Cambodia and Ivory Coast. Egyptian styles were particularly fashionable. Modigliani’s carved heads share their clean lines and elongated forms.

Paul Guillaume, Modigliani’s art dealer from 1914, was a leading promoter of African art. A self-made man, still in his early twenties, Guillaume also impressed Modigliani by supporting contemporary art in Paris. Portraits show him sharply dressed and confident.

29 Anticlockwise from wall text

Caryatid with a Vase c.1914 Watercolour on paper

Tate. Bequeathed by Mrs A.F. Kessler, 1983 T03570

Caryatid

1913 Oil paint and pencil on cardboard

Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle. Purchased 1949, AM 2929 P X63605

30 Caryatid

1913–14 Graphite and crayon on paper

This drawing once belonged to the British sculptor Jacob Epstein, who became friends with Modigliani in Paris. On a studio visit, Epstein saw a series of Modigliani’s sculpted Heads: ‘At night he would place candles on the top of each one and the effect was that of a primitive temple. A legend of the quarter said that Modigliani, when under the influence of hashish, embraced these sculptures.’

The New Art Gallery Walsall, Garman Ryan Collection X67896

Caryatid with Pointed Breast c.1913–14 Pen, ink and crayon on paper

Yale University Art Gallery, Collection of Frances and Ward Cheney, B.A. 1922 X65461

31 Caryatid

1913 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63535

Standing Nude in Profile c.1910 –11 Charcoal on paper

Laure Denier Collection, family of Paul Alexandre, courtesy of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art X63616

32 Woman Dressed in Low-Cut Gown Reclining on a Bed (The Russian Poet Akhmatova) c.1911 Crayon on paper

Around 1911, the famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova had an affair with Modigliani. She modelled for this drawing. ‘At this time Modigliani was infatuated with things Egyptian. He used to take me to the Louvre, to the Egyptian wing, assuring me that everything else, ‘tout le reste’, was unworthy of attention. He sketched my head in the style of decorative motifs portraying Egyptian queens and dancers.’

Private Collection, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London X68230 6

Caryatid, Frontal View c.1911 Crayon on paper

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. Donation Blaise Alexandre, Inv. 2001.2.6 X66395

33 Paul Guillaume, c.1914 © RMN-Grand Palais (musée de l'Orangerie) / Archives Alain Bouret, image Dominique Couto

34 Paul Guillaume

1916 Pencil on paper

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Rodgers, 1979 X63462

Paul Guillaume, Seated

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Museo del Novecento, Milano X63491

35 Portrait of Paul Guillaume, Novo Pilota

1915 Oil paint on card mounted on cradled plywood

Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, collection Jean Walter et Paul Guillaume X63510 5

Paul Guillaume met Modigliani in 1914 and soon became his dealer. He promoted Modigliani’s work enthusiastically and sat for several portraits. The artist depicted him as a sophisticated businessman, once with the words Novo Pilota (meaning ‘guiding star’) above his head. The inscription indicates how greatly he valued Guillaume’s support.

Bust of Paul Guillaume

1916 Oil paint on cardboard laid down on panel

Private Collection X63483

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37 Modigliani The Sculptor

Many who knew Modigliani recalled his early commitment to being a sculptor. His patron Paul Alexandre recalled how the artist worked around 1911-12: ‘When a figure haunted his mind, he would draw feverishly with unbelievable speed, never retouching, starting the same drawing ten times in an evening by the light of a candle … He sculpted the same way. He drew for a long time, then he attacked the block directly.’

Modigliani’s sculptures found an audience. At least two Heads displayed here belonged to a group of seven sculptures that featured in an important annual art exhibition, the Salon d’Automne, held from October to November in 1912. They appeared alongside cubist paintings by his peers in what one journalist called a ‘decorative ensemble’. It was the only significant display of Modigliani’s sculpture held during his lifetime.

His career as a sculptor was short. Even if contemporary accounts suggest Modigliani ‘found’ his limestone at local building sites, materials may have proved expensive. Troubled by the after-effects of childhood tuberculosis, dust from carving could have aggravated his breathing. But most importantly he could better explore his developing style in two-dimensions. Elongated faces with swan-like necks and blank, almond-shaped eyes would soon appear in his paintings.

38 Front row from left to right

Head

1911–12 Stone

Abelló Collection X63480

Head c.1910 –11 Limestone

The Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum X63609

39 Head c.1909 –11 Sandstone

Private Collection X63590

40 Middle row from left to right

Head c.1911 Stone

Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum, Gift of Lois Orswell X63488

Woman’s Head (with Chignon)

1911–12 Sandstone

Merzbacher Kunststiftung X63508

41 Head c.1915 Limestone

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller in memory of Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan, 1939 X63461

42 Back row from left to right

Head

1911–12 Limestone

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Cowles X63615

Head

1911–12 Limestone

Private Collection X63527

Head

1911–12 Stone

Tate. Transferred from the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1983 T03760 7 43 ROOM 6

44 Creative Networks

In a series of expressive portraits, Modigliani captured fellow artists from Montmartre and Montparnasse. Most worked in the radical new style of cubism, flattening space in their paintings, abstracting the faces of their models. Appropriately, when Modigliani painted Spanish painter Juan Gris and Parisian artist Henri Laurens, he gave them angular profiles and stylised features. Although Modigliani experimented with cubism, he never rejected figurative representation, even if he remained impressed by Picasso. ‘Picasso is always ten years ahead of us’, he said, inscribing his portrait with the word ‘SAVOIR’ or ‘knowing’.

Alliances formed regardless of nationality. A wealthy Franco-American painter, Frank Burty Haviland, helped his contemporaries by buying their works. Russian sculptor Léon Indenbaum shared a studio with Modigliani and sat for a portrait. ‘He glanced at me at brief intervals and as he painted he hardly moved. His brush, held upwards like a bow, played out to perfection his wondrous vision … At the end of the third sitting he signed this real masterpiece and held it out to me. ‘It’s for you’, he said.’

45 Henri Laurens, 1915 Archives Laurens 46 Pablo Picasso in front of the painting The aficionado at Villa Les Clochettes Sorgues, in the summer of 1912 © Succession Picasso - Gestion droits d’auteur Anonyme Localisation: Paris, musée national Picasso – Paris © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / Madeleine Coursaget 47 Frank Burty Haviland, c.1914 Photo: Paul Burty Haviland © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2017 48 Léon Indenbaum, 1915 Courtesy Julien Goiran 49 Juan Gris, c.1914 From Juan Gris: rimes de la forme et de la couleur (exh.cat), Musée Paul Valéry/Editions Au Fil du Temps, Paris, 2011 50 Clockwise from wall text

Henri Laurens

1915 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X69111

51 Pablo Picasso

1915 Oil paint on cardboard

Although Modigliani was never part of Picasso’s inner circle, they often crossed paths. Modigliani admired the Spaniard’s work, stating that ‘Picasso is always ten years ahead of us’. He was less forgiving of his sartorial choices. ‘He may have talent,’ Modigliani said, ‘but that’s no reason why he shouldn’t dress decently.’ Picasso, however, praised Modigliani’s style: ‘There is only one man in Paris who knows how to dress and that is Modigliani.’

Private Collection X63529 8

Portrait of the Painter Frank Haviland

1914 Oil paint on cardboard

Mattioli Collection, Italy X63495

52 Léon Indenbaum

1916 Oil paint on canvas

The Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum X63611

Juan Gris

1915 Oil paint on canvas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967 (67.187.85) X63428

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54 Kindred Spirits

A decade after moving to Paris, Modigliani had made the city his own. He was a well-known figure in Montparnasse’s close-knit artistic community and counted artists, poets, actors, musicians and writers among his friends. He captured their colourful personalities while experimenting with mark-making techniques and lettering. In some cases he even wrote a sitter’s name across the canvas.

Modigliani made several paintings of the writer and editor Beatrice Hastings. Lovers between 1914 and 1915, their volatile romance was marked by drunken arguments, though it was a source of creative energy for both. Yet as much as Modigliani was part of this vibrant international community, in other ways, he was an outsider. Ever committed to portraiture – at a time when it was relatively unfashionable – he did not gain vocal support from the critics with whom he socialised. And as a Jew in France, where anti-Semitism was commonplace, he would have faced prejudice.

55 Clockwise from wall text

Madam Pompadour

1915 Oil paint on canvas

The Art Institute of Chicago, Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1938.217 X63457

English writer Beatrice Hastings described herself as a ‘crusading, anti-philistine woman’ with ‘a temper not to be trifled with’. She published important writers, including Ezra Pound, as editor of the London journal The New Age. She also wrote her own poetry, prose, political opinion pieces and art criticism under different pseudonyms. In 1914 Hastings began a two-year affair with Modigliani. Details of his working methods and their domestic life featured in her column ‘Impressions of Paris’. In turn, Modigliani painted her in different guises, sometimes in flamboyant costume.

56 Beatrice Hastings

1915 Oil paint on paper

Private Collection X63448 10

Beatrice Hastings, 1898 Copyright holder: HPB Library, Toronto 57 Woman with Velvet Ribbon

1915 Oil paint on card mounted on cradled plywood

Paris, Musée de l’Orangerie, collection Jean Walter et Paul Guillaume X63513

Portrait of Diego Rivera

1914 Oil paint on cardboard

In 1909, following a two-year stay in Spain, Mexican artist Diego Rivera settled in Montparnasse. He became friends with Modigliani and in 1914 the two briefly shared a studio. Rivera returned to Mexico in 1921, rejecting cubism for more politically engaged painting.

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Acquired in 1986 with resources from the Federal State and – via the Association of Friends of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen e.V. – donations from the business community of Nordrhein-Westfalen X63607

58 Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Lithuanian cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz commissioned this unusual double portrait to mark his marriage to Berthe Kitrosser, a Russian poet. He remembered that Modigliani ‘made perhaps twenty preparatory drawings, very quickly, beginning with the eyes and then continuing without hesitation. I had a photograph made … which I intended to send my parents, so he used the pose of this’. Modigliani first completed the portrait in two sittings, charging ten francs for each. To help him financially, Lipchitz persuaded him to persevere for a further two weeks.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection, 1926.221 X63458

59 Jean Cocteau

1916 Oil paint on canvas

French poet and writer Jean Cocteau remembered sitting for this elegant – if slightly comical – portrait in the studio that Modigliani shared with Moïse Kisling in the rue Joseph Bara, Montparnasse. He purchased the portrait, but having no money for the cab fare home, he left it in the studio. He later wrote: ‘It does not look like me, but it does look like Modigliani, which is better.’

The Henry and Rose Pearlman Collection on long term loan to the Princeton University Art Museum X63610 11

60 Portrait of a Girl c.1917 Oil paint on canvas

Increasingly, in the early twentieth century, young women chose to live independently of families or partners. Art schools accepted female students and the First World War created new job opportunities. The identity of this sitter is unknown but, with her stylish collar and distinctive hairstyle, she may have been another Montparnasse resident.

Tate. Bequeathed by C. Frank Stoop, 1933 N04723

61 Seated Servant / Portrait of Zofe

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Not all of Modigliani’s portraits featured his bohemian friends. The sitter of this portrait, whose name is lost to history, appears to have worked as a servant. It was not uncommon for young working people to earn a little extra money modelling for artists. The oval face and the blank, almond-shaped eyes are typical of Modigliani’s mature style. Private Collection X64639

Gaston Modot

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Musée national d’art moderne / Centre de création industrielle. Dation-in- payment Alex Maguy Glass, 2002, AM 2002-128 X63477 12

62 French painter-turned-actor Gaston Modot knew Modigliani from their Montmartre days, but these portraits of him and his wife Renée (Woman in a Yellow Dress, to the right) were painted in Nice. Renée remembered how Modigliani would visit their house to paint: ‘You should have seen my living room when he was finished for the day. There was paint on the rug, on the furniture, all over us. He might have been likeable but he was an extremely messy painter.’

Woman in a Yellow Dress (La belle espagnole)

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Collection Fondazione Francesco Federico Cerruti per l’Arte on long-term loan to Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli X63598

63 Portrait of the Artist Léopold Survage

1918 Oil paint on canvas

When Léopold Survage asked Modigliani why he portrayed him with one eye closed and the other open, Modigliani replied ‘Because you look out at the world with one eye, and into yourself with the other.’ An artist of Russian-Danish-Finnish descent, Survage met Modigliani in 1911 in the Montparnasse café La Rotonde. He posed for this portrait in Nice, where the artists stayed during the First World War. While there, Modigliani also painted a portrait of Germaine Meyer (shown in room 9), who would meet and marry Survage three years later.

Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum Art Museum, Helsinki X63471

64 Portrait of Baranowski

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Pierre-Edouard Baranowski was a Polish painter, who exhibited his landscapes and still lifes throughout the 1920s. Art dealer Léopold Zborowski, or the painter Moïse Kisling, probably introduced him to Modigliani. As in many Modigliani portraits, here the sitter’s appearance seems slightly androgynous.

Private Collection X67035

65 Dr François Brabander

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Polish doctor François Brabander knew Modigliani through his sister-in-law, Anna Zborowska, the partner of Modigliani’s last dealer Léopold Zborowski. He probably sat for this portrait in the south of France, where friends and relatives posed in the absence of professional models.

Estorick Collection, London X63487

Max Jacob c.1916–17 Oil paint on canvas

Cincinnati Art Museum, Bequest of Mary E. Johnston, 1959.43 X63479 9

66 Portrait of Max Jacob

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf. Acquired in 1965 with a donation from the Westdeutscher Rundfunk X63501

Close friends with Picasso, French poet and writer Max Jacob met Modigliani in 1906. Although he did not promote Modigliani’s art in his writings, he did introduce the artist to Paul Guillaume. Modigliani often discussed faith with Jacob, who came from a Jewish background but had converted to Catholicism in 1909. The inscription on this drawing reads: ‘to my brother very tenderly the night of 7 March crescent moon’ Modigliani

67 Portrait of Max Jacob

1915 Graphite on paper

Musée des beaux-arts de Quimper X65463

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69 Modern Nudes

Thanks to the support of a new art dealer, Léopold Zborowski, in 1916 Modigliani returned to painting the female nude. His professional models earned five francs per sitting, around twice the daily wage of a female factory worker during the First World War, and comparable to the daily 15 franc stipend that Modigliani received from his dealer.

While Modigliani made these paintings for male buyers, their sensuality suggests changes in the lives of young women, who were increasingly independent in the 1910s. The models dominate the compositions, often making eye contact with the viewer, their made-up faces hinting at the growing influence of female film stars.

At the time, these modern nudes proved shocking. In 1917, when some of the paintings were included in Modigliani’s only lifetime solo exhibition, a police commissioner asked for their removal on the grounds of indecency. He found their pubic hair offensive. Traditionally, in fine art, nudes were hair-free.

70 Clockwise from wall text

L’Algérienne

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Loan from Ludwig Stiftung, ML 76/3042 X63517 13 In the 1910s, when ‘Almaisa’ (a woman of Algerian descent) sat for this painting, pendant earrings and bobbed hair were bold fashion choices. Posing nude, in the painting on the right, Almaisa also appears self-confident. Leaning towards the viewer, dominating the composition, she still wears distinctive accessories.

Nude on a Divan (Almaisa)

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63575

71 Nude

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63530

Nude

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X65466

Seated Nude

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp X63597

72 Standing Blonde Nude (Nu blond)

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63539

Seated Nude (La belle romaine)

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X67342

73 Anticlockwise from wall text

Nude

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, by gift X63467

Reclining Nude on a White Cushion c.1917 Oil paint on canvas

The lines between modelling and prostitution in the early twentieth century were sometimes blurred. When Modigliani could not find professional models, it is likely that sex workers posed for his nudes. The women seen in these works remain unidentified. Their reclining bodies, set against richly coloured backgrounds, dominate the compositions.

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, acquired with lottery funds in 1959 X63603 14 74 Reclining Nude c.1919 Oil paint on canvas

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Mrs. Simon Guggenheim Fund, 1950 X63466

Marguerite

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63472

With her dark hair and distinctive, pointed chin, the model in this seated portrait – now known only as Marguerite – may also have posed for Female Nude (to the left). In that work, Modigliani probably used the wooden end of a paintbrush to define strands of painted hair, while a thick, round brush, created a pattern across her flesh.

75 Female Nude c.1916 Oil paint on canvas

The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London X63608

Reclining Nude, Head Resting on Right Arm

1919 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63578

76 Standing Nude (Elvira)

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Kunstmuseum Bern, Gift of Walter and Gertrud Hadorn, Bern, 1977 X63499

Not all of Modigliani’s models were professionals. It is possible that after sitting for a portrait clothed, Elvira (known only by her first name) was convinced to pose naked (in the painting on the right). She looks noticeably younger than Modigliani’s other nudes and holds a cloth across her lap.

Elvira Resting at a Table

1919 Oil paint on canvas

Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. in memory of his wife, Louise Vauclain Pulitzer X63600

77 ROOM 9

78 Heading South

In the last months of the First World War, with Paris suffering air raids and with Modigliani’s health growing worse, Zborowski decided to send his artist to the French Riviera. Modigliani was anxious about the move: ‘All these changes, changes of circumstance and the change of the season, make me fear for a change of rhythm and atmosphere.’ However, given the number of his city friends who had also headed south, he would still find plenty of company. Even his new partner, the painter Jeanne Hébuterne was there, together with her mother as a chaperone. By this stage she was pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Modigliani made some of his strongest works in Nice. He worked quickly; as one of his sitters, Germaine Meyer, recalled: ‘The portrait was finished after a few hours without him stopping even for a minute.’ In the absence of professional models, he painted local children and his friends, capturing them in warm Mediterranean colours.

79 Anticlockwise from wall text

Young Girl with Loose Hair

1919 Oil paint on canvas

Nahmad Collection, Monaco X63484

The Little Peasant c.1918 Oil paint on canvas

In London, in 1919, some of Modigliani’s works featured in a contemporary art exhibition. Hugh Blaker, an English art connoisseur, purchased this painting and offered to lend it to the Tate Gallery. But it was not until 1941, after Blaker’s death, that the painting entered the gallery’s collection. With its luminous, quickly-painted surface, it has been popular ever since.

Tate. Presented by Miss Jenny Blaker in memory of Hugh Blaker, 1941 N05269 15 80 Boy in Short Pants c.1918 Oil paint on canvas

Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Leland Fikes Foundation, Inc., 1977.1 X63518 16

Black Hair (Young Dark-Haired Girl Seated)

1918 Oil paint on canvas

This painting belonged to Picasso, who bought it in the 1930s. Musée national Picasso-Paris. Donation in 1973. RF1973-81 X63514

81 The Italian Woman

1917 Oil paint on canvas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of The Chester Dale Collection, 1956 (56.4) X63426

Young Woman of the People

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Frances and Armand Hammer Purchase Fund X63506

Portrait of Germaine Survage

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy 17 X65657

82 Rachel Osterlind

1919 Oil paint on canvas

In the spring of 1919, Modigliani stayed at the villa of Rachel Osterlind and her husband Anders, a Franco-Swedish painter. They introduced him to the impressionist painter Pierre- Auguste Renoir, who lived nearby. New research has revealed that the portrait Boy in Short Pants, also shown in this room, probably depicts the Osterlinds’ ten-year-old son Nanic.

Friend of the Museum X66208

Marie (Marie, fille du peuple)

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Kunstmuseum Basel, Bequest Dr. Walther Hanhart, Riehen, 1975 X63498

83 Boy in a Blue Jacket (Garçon à la Veste Bleue)

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63570

The Boy

1919 Oil paint on canvas

Indianapolis Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Julian Bobbs in memory of William Ray Adams, 46.22, imamuseum.org X63497

La Belle Épicière

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Nahmad Collection, Monaco X63485

84 Cagnes Landscape

1919 Oil paint on canvas

During his stay in the south of France, Modigliani wrote to his dealer Léopold Zborowski: ‘I am trying to do some landscapes. The first might possibly look like a beginner’s. Otherwise they are alright.’ His friends Chaïm Soutine and Léonard Foujita, who also painted their rural surroundings in Cagnes, might have inspired his experiment.

Private Collection X66512

85 ROOM 10

86 Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier

In 1919 Modigliani returned to Paris from the south of France. The war was over; his health had improved. Zborowski found a studio and living space for Modigliani and Hébuterne on the rue de la Grande Chaumière, near the cafés and meeting places of Montparnasse. Modigliani’s friend Lunia Czechowska recalled: ‘This was a very modest kingdom, but it was his. I’ll never forget the day when he took possession of his new domain. His happiness was enough to move us all.’

Modigliani’s final studio still exists, but almost 100 years after the artist’s death, its appearance has changed significantly. Through study of documentary material and of Modigliani’s works themselves, the environment in which the artist made his last works is reimagined. In this room you can immerse yourself in a virtual reality recreation of Modigliani’s final studio, which uses the actual studio space as a template.

87 Due to limited capacity, tickets are allocated on a first come, first served basis, before entering the exhibition.

Virtual reality in partnership with HTC Vive

Modigliani is sponsored by Virtual Reality in partnership with

Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier is produced by

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89 How to use the VR Experience

1 Place the headset on your face and then pull the strap down over the back of your head

2 Twist the dial clockwise until the headset feels snug

3 Push the earphones down until you hear them both ‘click’

4 Read the instructions and stare at the white dot to start the experience

5 Raise your hand if you require assistance

Modigliani is sponsored by Virtual Reality in partnership with

Modigliani VR: The Ochre Atelier is produced by

90 Mario the Musician

1920 Pencil on paper

Born in Belgium, Marios Varvoglis was a Greek composer who studied at the Conservatoire de Paris college of music and lived in Montparnasse. He was the last person to sit for Modigliani.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, 1935 X63463

91 ROOM 11

92 An Intimate Circle

Though Modigliani knew many people, a few characters appear repeatedly in his artworks. These people – his closest contacts – were also his most convenient models. Zborowski and his partner Anna Sierzpowski (known as Hanka Zborowska) feature often, smartly dressed, firmly middle-class in appearance.

Jeanne Hébuterne was Modigliani’s most regular sitter. They lived together; she was the mother of their child and the two were engaged to be married. The paintings show her in different guises, from a girlish figure with her hair tied back, to a self-assured pregnant woman. If Modigliani had by now found a distinctive way of working, in subtle ways, he continued to experiment. The treatment of Hébuterne’s features varies greatly in the works gathered here.

In the grip of addiction, with his health ever weaker, Modigliani died in January 1920 at the age of 35. Hébuterne – expecting their second child – took her own life a few days later. However, in a remarkable late self-portrait, the artist captured himself as a confident professional, loaded palette in hand.

93 Clockwise from wall text

Portrait of Anna Zborowska (Portrait de Hanka Zborowska)

1916 Oil paint on canvas

Brooklyn Museum, Lent by the Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, L2009.5.12 X63538

‘I posed for Modigliani often over four years, whether for oil paintings or for drawings. I did it gladly because the moment when a work of art comes into ‘being’ is fascinating’, wrote Anna Zborowska after Modigliani’s death. Also known as Hanka, Anna Zborowska was a school teacher from an impoverished Polish family with aristocratic roots. She met Léopold Zborowski, her partner, in 1914 at the Café de la Rotonde. She became integral to his art dealership and, although they never married, she referred to him as her husband.

94 Anna Zborowska

1917 Oil paint on canvas

The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Lillie P. Bliss Collection, 1934 X63459

Léopold and Anna Zborowski, c.1925 © Archives Alice & Adam Orawski 95 Hanka Zborowska Seated

1919 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection, courtesy of Connery & Associates X67341

Self-Portrait

1919 Oil paint on canvas

MAC USP Collection (Museu de Arte Conemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil), Donation of Yolanda Penteado and Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho X63507 20

96 Head of Jeanne Hébuterne

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63537

Modigliani met Jeanne Hébuterne, a 19-year-old art student, in the spring of 1917. They fell in love and moved in together, against the wishes of her middle-class Catholic family. Hébuterne became Modigliani’s favourite model: he painted her more than 20 times. Though no wedding took place, Modigliani wrote an engagement contract in 1919: ‘I commit myself today, 7 July, to marry Mademoiselle Jane Hebuterne [sic] as soon as the papers arrive.’ In November 1918, Hébuterne gave birth to their daughter, Jeanne Modigliani. As was common at the time, baby Jeanne was looked after by a nurse.

97 Jeanne Hébuterne, 1919 Courtesy Archives Jeanne Hébuterne

98 Jeanne Hébuterne

1919 Oil paint on canvas

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nate B. Spingold, 1956 (56.184.2) X63424

Jeanne Hébuterne

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63581

Jeanne Hébuterne Seated

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Merzbacher Kunststiftung X65462 19

99 Blue Eyes (Portrait of Madame Jeanne Hébuterne)

1917 Oil paint on canvas

Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection, 1967 X63519

Portrait of a Young Woman

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Yale University Art Gallery, Bequest of Kate L. Brewster X63614

100 Léopold Zborowski with a Cane

1918 Oil paint on canvas

Private Collection X63531 18 Polish poet Léopold Zborowski worked as an art critic and traded books and pictures from his apartment. He met Modigliani in 1916 and quickly became his dealer. Five years younger than Modigliani, he provided the artist with a daily stipend and let him paint in his apartment. Zborowski promoted and supported Modigliani tirelessly: he arranged the artist’s only lifetime solo exhibition at Berthe Weill’s gallery in 1917 and advised him to leave Paris for the South during the latter part of the war.

Portrait of Léopold Zborowski

1916–19 Oil paint on canvas

Museu de Arte São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, gift of Euvaldo Lodi, 1950. Inv. 150 P X63516

101 FIND OUT MORE

102 Book Of A Lifetime: Modigliani and the songs of Maldoror 11 February 2018, 18.30–20.30 In the exhibition, Tate Modern £23.50 / £19.50 concession Novelist and painter Richard Milward, reads from Les Chants de Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont as well as his own texts, exploring its longstanding influence.

After Modigliani: Life Drawing And Beyond 3, 4, 10 & 11 March 2018, 10.00–17.00 Clore Studio £400 / £300 concession A course exploring portraiture and the materiality of painting. Participants will spend time in the exhibition as well as drawing from life models.

Curator’s Tour: Modigliani with Emma Lewis 19 March, 18.30–20.30 In the exhibition £23.50, concessions available Enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at the Modigliani exhibition. These events are provided by Tate Gallery on behalf of Tate Enterprises Ltd

Catalogue A fully illustrated exhibition catalogue is available from Tate shops or at tate.org.uk/shop

103 Audioguide Listen to the curators talking aboutkey works in the exhibition £4.25, £3.75 concession

Podcast Contemporary artists’ models talk about Modigliani’s nudes. Listen for free at tate.org.uk/podcasts or download from Apple Podcast and Acast.

Events Visit tate.org.uk or call 020 7887 8888 for more information and to book

Curator’s Talk: Modigliani with Nancy Ireson (Sold Out) 28 November, 19.00–20.00 Starr Cinema £23.50, concessions available A deeper look into the work and short life of Amedeo Modigliani. Followed by a private view of the exhibition which is open until 21.30.

104 Tate Members Enjoy free entry to all Tate exhibitions, plus get exclusive access to the Members Rooms at Tate Britain and Tate Modern. Membership starts from £76. Join today in the gallery. Call 020 7887 8888 or visit tate.org.uk/members.

105 Modigliani

Supported by Virtual Reality in partnership with

Supported by Maryam and Edward Eisler

With additional support from the Modigliani Exhibition Supporters Circle: Susan and John Burns, Italian Cultural Institute and those donors who wish to remain anonymous

Tate Patrons and Tate Members

Media Partner

Exhibition curated by Nancy Ireson, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern and Simonetta Fraquelli, Independent Curator, with Emma Lewis, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern and Marian Cousijn, Mondriaan Fund Curatorial Fellow 106 Graphic Design by Tate Design Studio

This exhibition has been made possible by the provision of insurance through the Government Indemnity Scheme. Tate would like to thank HM Government for providing Government Indemnity and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England for arranging the indemnity.

Large print texts are available at the exhibition entrance and on the exhibition pages of tate.org.uk

Photography is not allowed in the exhibition

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