MODIGLIANI 23 November 2017 – 2 April 2018 LARGE PRINT GUIDE Please return to exhibition entrance 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 Find Out More 100 5 6 4 7 3 8 2 9 1 10 10 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 6 ROOM 2 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 17 ROOM 3 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. 20 6 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