Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 –
January 24, 1920) was an Judaism|Jewish
Italy|Italian painter and sculptor. Modigliani was
born in Livorno, Tuscany and began his artistic
studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906
where he began to create his unique style,
influenced by the artists in his circle of
friends, primitive art, but standing apart from
them stylistically. Sick most of his life, he
partook of alcohol and drugs, and was a
philanderer, he died at the age of 35.

==Early life==

Born into a Jewish family in Livorno, Tuscany,
Italy, Modigliani was the fourth child of Flaminio
Modigliani and his France|French-born wife,
Eugénie Garsin. His father was in the
money-changing business, but when the business
went bankrupt the family lived in poverty.

Beset with health problems after a bout of typhoid
at the age of 14, he contracted tuberculosis two
years later. The tuberculosis affected him for the
rest of his life. He, as well as other family
members, experienced clinical
depression|depression. From a  stubborn,
independent lot, in 1898 his 26-year-old brother,
Emmanuel, was sentenced to six months imprisonment
for anarchism|anarchist activities.

In 1902, Modigliani enrolled in the Free School of
Nude Studies (Scuola libera di Nudo) in Florence
and a year later moved to Venice where he
registered to study at the Istituto per le Belle
Arti di Venezia. It is in Venice that he first
smoked hashish and, rather than studying, began to
spend time frequenting disreputable parts of the
city.

==Paris==

In 1906, Modigliani moved to Paris, the then focal
point of the avant-garde, where became the epitome
of the tragic artist, creating a posthumous legend
almost as famous as that of Vincent van Gogh.

Settling in Le Bateau-Lavoir, a commune for
penniless artists in Montmartre, he was soon busy
painting, at first influenced by the work of Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec until Paul Cézanne changed
his views. Eventually, Modigliani developed his
own unique style, one that cannot be adequately
categorized with other artists.

He was noted for his fast work, usually finishing
a portrait in one or two sittings and never
reworked. Yet, those who posed for him said that
being painted by Modigliani was like having their
soul laid bare.

==Experiments with sculpture==


In 1909, Modigliani returned home to Livorno,
sickly and tired from his wild lifestyle. He did
not stay in Italy long and soon he was back in
Paris, this time renting a studio in Montparnasse.
He originally saw himself as a sculptor rather
than a painter, and he began sculpting seriously
after Paul Guillaume, an ambitious young art
dealer, took an interest in his work and
introduced him to sculptor Constantin Brancusi.

Although a series of Modigliani's sculptures were
exhibited in the Salon d'Automne of 1912, he
abruptly abandoned sculpting and focused solely on
his painting.

In Modigliani's art, there is evidence the
influence of primitive art from Africa and
Cambodia which he may have seen in the Musée de
l'Homme. His interest in African masks shows in
the treatment of the sitters' faces in his
portraits. The sitter's faces appear ancient,
almost resembling ancient Egypt|Egyptian painting
in their flat and masklike appearance, with
distinctive almond eyes, pursed mouths, twisted
noses, and elongated necks. 

Among his works is the portrait of his
hard-drinking friend Chaim Soutine plus portraits
of many of his other Montparnasse contemporaries
such as Moise Kisling, Pablo Picasso, Diego
Rivera, Marie Marevna Vorobyev-Stebeslka, Juan
Gris, Max Jacob, Blaise Cendrars, and Jean
Cocteau.

At the outset of World War I, he tried to enlist
in the army but was refused because of his poor
health.

==The war years==



Known as Modì by the art world, but as Dedo to
his friends, Modigliani was a handsome man, and
attracted much female attention.

Women came and went until Beatrice Hastings
entered his life. She stayed with him for almost
two years, was the subject for several of his
portraits, including Madame Pompadour, and the
object of much of his drunken wrath. 

Drunk, he was a bitter, angry person, looking for
a fight as was depicted in the famous drawing by
Marie Vassilieff. Sober, he was graciously timid
and charming, would quote Dante Alighieri and
recite poems from  Comte de
Lautreamont|Lautreamont's book, Les Chants de
Maldoror, a copy of which he always carried with
him.

When the United Kingdom|British painter Nina
Hamnett arrived in Montparnasse in 1914, on her
first evening there the smiling man at the next
table in the café introduced himself as
Modigliani; painter and Jew. They became great
friends.

In 1916, Modigliani befriended the Poland|Polish
poet and art dealer Leopold Zborovski and his wife
Anna. Modigliani painted them several times,
charging only 10 francs "and a little alcohol" for
a portrait.

==Jeanne Hébuterne==


The following summer, the Russian sculptor Chana
Orloff introduced him to a beautiful 18-year-old
art student named Jeanne Hébuterne who had posed
for Tsuguharu Foujita|Foujita. From a conservative
bourgeois background, Hébuterne was renounced by
her devout Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic
family for her liaison with the painter whom they
saw as little more than a debauched derelict and,
worse yet, a Jew. Despite her family, soon they
were living together and although Hébuterne was
the love of his life, their public scenes became
more renown than Modigliani's individual drunken
exhibitions. 

On December 3, 1917, Modigliani's first one-man
exhibition opened at the Berthe Weill Gallery. The
chief of the Paris police was scandalized by
Modigliani's nudes and forced him to close the
exhibition within a few hours after its opening. 

That same year, Modigliani received a letter from
former lover Simone Thirioux, a French-Canadian
woman, who informed him that she had given birth
to his son.  Modigliani never acknowledged
paternity of the child.

After moving to Nice with Hébuterne she became
pregnant and on November 29, 1918 gave birth to a
daughter who they named Jeanne.

==Nice==

While in Nice, a trip organized by Leopold
Zborovski for Modigliani, Tsuguharu Foujita and
other artists to sell their works to rich
tourists. Modigliani managed to sell a few
pictures but only for a few francs each. Despite
this, during this time he produced most of the
paintings that later became his most popular and
valued works.

During his lifetime he sold a number of his works,
but never for any great amount of money. What
funds he did receive, soon vanished for his
habits. 

In May of 1919 he returned to Paris, where, with
Hébuterne and their daughter, he rented an
apartment in the rue de la Grande Chaumière.
While there, both Hébuterne and Modigliani
painted portraits of each other, and of
themselves.

==Death==

Although he continued to paint, Modigliani's
health was deteriorating rapidly, and his
alcohol-induced blackouts became more frequent. 

In 1920, after not hearing from him for several
days, his downstairs neighbor checked on the
family, and found Modigliani in bed delirious and
holding onto Hébuterne who was nearly nine months
pregnant. They summoned a doctor, but there little
could be done because Modigliani had tubercular
meningitis.

Modigliani died without regaining consciousness.
There was an enormous funeral, attended by many
from the artistic communities in Montmartre and
Montparnasse.

Hébuterne, who had been taken to her parents'
home, threw herself out of a fifth-floor window
two days after Modigliani's death, killing herself
and her unborn child. 

Modigliani was interred in Père Lachaise|Père
Lachaise Cemetery. Hébuterne was buried at the
Cimetière de Bagneux near Paris, and it was not
until 1930 that her embittered family allowed her
body to be moved to rest beside Modigliani.

==Legacy==

Modigliani's sister in Florence adopted their
15-month-old daughter, Jeanne. As an adult, she
wrote a biography of her father titled,
Modigliani: Man and Myth.

In 1984, Livorno authorities searched a river in
the city with hopes of finding sculptures that,
according to a popular legend, Modigliani threw in
during a violent attack of rage. A couple
sculptures were found, and an art critic deemed
them authentic. Later it was discovered that the
sculptures found had been produced by three boys
with a Black & Decker. 

His sculptures rarely change hands and the few
paintings that change hands can sell for more than
United States dollar|$15.6 million. His Nu couché
(Sur le côté gauche) sold in November of 2003
for United States dollar|$26,887,500.  Recently, a
painting of Jeanne Hebuterne sold in June of 2005
for Pound sterling|£3.25m. 

==Selected sculptures==
(Only 27 sculptures by Modigliani are known to
exist.)
*Head of a Woman (1910/1911).
*Head (1911-1913).
*Head (1911-1912).
*Head (1912).
*Rose Caryatid (1914).

==Selected paintings==
*The Jewess (1908).
*Nude with a hat (1908).
*The Cellist (1909).
*The Amazon (1909).
*Nude – Caryatid (1913).
*Rose Caryatid with Blue Border (1913).
*Portrait of Diego Rivera
(1914).http://www.imageartsetc.com/stock-images/de
tail.asp?pid=1430
*The Pretty Housewife (1915).
*Portrait of Juan Gris (1915).
*Madame Pompadour (Portrait of Beatrice Hastings)
(1915).
*The Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and His Wife Berthe
Lipchitz (1916). 
*Portrait of Beatrice Hastings (1916).
*Portrait of Max Jacob (1916).
*Reclining Nude from the Back (Nu couché de dos)
(1917). 
*Nude Sdraiato (1917).
*Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917).
*Portrait of Elena Pavlowski (1917).
*Portrait of Chaim Soutine (1917).
*Nude (1917).
*Nude on a Divan (1918).
*Portrait of Leopold Zborovski (1918).
*The Zouave (1918).
*Young Redhead in an Evening Dress (1918).
*Portrait of Blaise Cendrars (1918).
*Jeanne Hébuterne Seated in Profile (1918).
*Little Mary (petite Marie)
(1918).http://www.art-katroz.com/pages_repros
*Jeanne Hébuterne, Left Arm Behind her Head
(1919).
*Marevna
(1919).http://www.imageartsetc.com/stock-images/de
tail.asp?pid=1467
*Boy with blue waistcoat (1919).
*Cypress Trees and Houses (1919).
*The Little Peasant (1919).
*Self Portrait (1919).

==External links==
Commons|Amedeo Modigliani
*http://www.modigliani-amedeo.com/HomeENG.htm
Official site of the Archives légales of
Modigliani
*http://www.abcgallery.com/M/modigliani/modigliani
.html Modigliani at Olga's Gallery
*http://www.whoismodi.com Companion site to
exhibition 'Modigliani and the Artists of
Montparnasse'

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (July 12, 1884 –
January 24, 1920) was an Judaism|Jewish
Italy|Italian painter and sculptor. Modigliani was
born in Livorno, Tuscany and began his artistic
studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906
where he began to create his unique style,
influenced by the artists in his circle of
friends, primitive art, but standing apart from
them stylistically. Sick most of his life, he
partook of alcohol and drugs, and was a
philanderer, he died at the age of 35.

==Early life==

Born into a Jewish family in Livorno, Tuscany,
Italy, Modigliani was the fourth child of Flaminio
Modigliani and his France|French-born wife,
Eugénie Garsin. His father was in the
money-changing business, but when the business
went bankrupt the family lived in poverty.

Beset with health problems after a bout of typhoid
at the age of 14, he contracted tuberculosis two
years later. The tuberculosis affected him for the
rest of his life. He, as well as other family
members, experienced clinical
depression|depression. From a  stubborn,
independent lot, in 1898 his 26-year-old brother,
Emmanuel, was sentenced to six months imprisonment
for anarchism|anarchist activities.

In 1902, Modigliani enrolled in the Free School of
Nude Studies (Scuola libera di Nudo) in Florence
and a year later moved to Venice where he
registered to study at the Istituto per le Belle
Arti di Venezia. It is in Venice that he first
smoked hashish and, rather than studying, began to
spend time frequenting disreputable parts of the
city.

==Paris==

In 1906, Modigliani moved to Paris, the then focal
point of the avant-garde, where became the epitome
of the tragic artist, creating a posthumous legend
almost as famous as that of Vincent van Gogh.

Settling in Le Bateau-Lavoir, a commune for
penniless artists in Montmartre, he was soon busy
painting, at first influenced by the work of Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec until Paul Cézanne changed
his views. Eventually, Modigliani developed his
own unique style, one that cannot be adequately
categorized with other artists.

He was noted for his fast work, usually finishing
a portrait in one or two sittings and never
reworked. Yet, those who posed for him said that
being painted by Modigliani was like having their
soul laid bare.

==Experiments with sculpture==


In 1909, Modigliani returned home to Livorno,
sickly and tired from his wild lifestyle. He did
not stay in Italy long and soon he was back in
Paris, this time renting a studio in Montparnasse.
He originally saw himself as a sculptor rather
than a painter, and he began sculpting seriously
after Paul Guillaume, an ambitious young art
dealer, took an interest in his work and
introduced him to sculptor Constantin Brancusi.

Although a series of Modigliani's sculptures were
exhibited in the Salon d'Automne of 1912, he
abruptly abandoned sculpting and focused solely on
his painting.

In Modigliani's art, there is evidence the
influence of primitive art from Africa and
Cambodia which he may have seen in the Musée de
l'Homme. His interest in African masks shows in
the treatment of the sitters' faces in his
portraits. The sitter's faces appear ancient,
almost resembling ancient Egypt|Egyptian painting
in their flat and masklike appearance, with
distinctive almond eyes, pursed mouths, twisted
noses, and elongated necks. 

Among his works is the portrait of his
hard-drinking friend Chaim Soutine plus portraits
of many of his other Montparnasse contemporaries
such as Moise Kisling, Pablo Picasso, Diego
Rivera, Marie Marevna Vorobyev-Stebeslka, Juan
Gris, Max Jacob, Blaise Cendrars, and Jean
Cocteau.

At the outset of World War I, he tried to enlist
in the army but was refused because of his poor
health.

==The war years==



Known as Modì by the art world, but as Dedo to
his friends, Modigliani was a handsome man, and
attracted much female attention.

Women came and went until Beatrice Hastings
entered his life. She stayed with him for almost
two years, was the subject for several of his
portraits, including Madame Pompadour, and the
object of much of his drunken wrath. 

Drunk, he was a bitter, angry person, looking for
a fight as was depicted in the famous drawing by
Marie Vassilieff. Sober, he was graciously timid
and charming, would quote Dante Alighieri and
recite poems from  Comte de
Lautreamont|Lautreamont's book, Les Chants de
Maldoror, a copy of which he always carried with
him.

When the United Kingdom|British painter Nina
Hamnett arrived in Montparnasse in 1914, on her
first evening there the smiling man at the next
table in the café introduced himself as
Modigliani; painter and Jew. They became great
friends.

In 1916, Modigliani befriended the Poland|Polish
poet and art dealer Leopold Zborovski and his wife
Anna. Modigliani painted them several times,
charging only 10 francs "and a little alcohol" for
a portrait.

==Jeanne Hébuterne==


The following summer, the Russian sculptor Chana
Orloff introduced him to a beautiful 18-year-old
art student named Jeanne Hébuterne who had posed
for Tsuguharu Foujita|Foujita. From a conservative
bourgeois background, Hébuterne was renounced by
her devout Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic
family for her liaison with the painter whom they
saw as little more than a debauched derelict and,
worse yet, a Jew. Despite her family, soon they
were living together and although Hébuterne was
the love of his life, their public scenes became
more renown than Modigliani's individual drunken
exhibitions. 

On December 3, 1917, Modigliani's first one-man
exhibition opened at the Berthe Weill Gallery. The
chief of the Paris police was scandalized by
Modigliani's nudes and forced him to close the
exhibition within a few hours after its opening. 

That same year, Modigliani received a letter from
former lover Simone Thirioux, a French-Canadian
woman, who informed him that she had given birth
to his son.  Modigliani never acknowledged
paternity of the child.

After moving to Nice with Hébuterne she became
pregnant and on November 29, 1918 gave birth to a
daughter who they named Jeanne.

==Nice==

While in Nice, a trip organized by Leopold
Zborovski for Modigliani, Tsuguharu Foujita and
other artists to sell their works to rich
tourists. Modigliani managed to sell a few
pictures but only for a few francs each. Despite
this, during this time he produced most of the
paintings that later became his most popular and
valued works.

During his lifetime he sold a number of his works,
but never for any great amount of money. What
funds he did receive, soon vanished for his
habits. 

In May of 1919 he returned to Paris, where, with
Hébuterne and their daughter, he rented an
apartment in the rue de la Grande Chaumière.
While there, both Hébuterne and Modigliani
painted portraits of each other, and of
themselves.

==Death==

Although he continued to paint, Modigliani's
health was deteriorating rapidly, and his
alcohol-induced blackouts became more frequent. 

In 1920, after not hearing from him for several
days, his downstairs neighbor checked on the
family, and found Modigliani in bed delirious and
holding onto Hébuterne who was nearly nine months
pregnant. They summoned a doctor, but there little
could be done because Modigliani had tubercular
meningitis.

Modigliani died without regaining consciousness.
There was an enormous funeral, attended by many
from the artistic communities in Montmartre and
Montparnasse.

Hébuterne, who had been taken to her parents'
home, threw herself out of a fifth-floor window
two days after Modigliani's death, killing herself
and her unborn child. 

Modigliani was interred in Père Lachaise|Père
Lachaise Cemetery. Hébuterne was buried at the
Cimetière de Bagneux near Paris, and it was not
until 1930 that her embittered family allowed her
body to be moved to rest beside Modigliani.

==Legacy==

Modigliani's sister in Florence adopted their
15-month-old daughter, Jeanne. As an adult, she
wrote a biography of her father titled,
Modigliani: Man and Myth.

In 1984, Livorno authorities searched a river in
the city with hopes of finding sculptures that,
according to a popular legend, Modigliani threw in
during a violent attack of rage. A couple
sculptures were found, and an art critic deemed
them authentic. Later it was discovered that the
sculptures found had been produced by three boys
with a Black & Decker. 

His sculptures rarely change hands and the few
paintings that change hands can sell for more than
United States dollar|$15.6 million. His Nu couché
(Sur le côté gauche) sold in November of 2003
for United States dollar|$26,887,500.  Recently, a
painting of Jeanne Hebuterne sold in June of 2005
for Pound sterling|£3.25m. 

==Selected sculptures==
(Only 27 sculptures by Modigliani are known to
exist.)
*Head of a Woman (1910/1911).
*Head (1911-1913).
*Head (1911-1912).
*Head (1912).
*Rose Caryatid (1914).

==Selected paintings==
*The Jewess (1908).
*Nude with a hat (1908).
*The Cellist (1909).
*The Amazon (1909).
*Nude – Caryatid (1913).
*Rose Caryatid with Blue Border (1913).
*Portrait of Diego Rivera
(1914).http://www.imageartsetc.com/stock-images/de
tail.asp?pid=1430
*The Pretty Housewife (1915).
*Portrait of Juan Gris (1915).
*Madame Pompadour (Portrait of Beatrice Hastings)
(1915).
*The Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and His Wife Berthe
Lipchitz (1916). 
*Portrait of Beatrice Hastings (1916).
*Portrait of Max Jacob (1916).
*Reclining Nude from the Back (Nu couché de dos)
(1917). 
*Nude Sdraiato (1917).
*Nude on a Blue Cushion (1917).
*Portrait of Elena Pavlowski (1917).
*Portrait of Chaim Soutine (1917).
*Nude (1917).
*Nude on a Divan (1918).
*Portrait of Leopold Zborovski (1918).
*The Zouave (1918).
*Young Redhead in an Evening Dress (1918).
*Portrait of Blaise Cendrars (1918).
*Jeanne Hébuterne Seated in Profile (1918).
*Little Mary (petite Marie)
(1918).http://www.art-katroz.com/pages_repros
*Jeanne Hébuterne, Left Arm Behind her Head
(1919).
*Marevna
(1919).http://www.imageartsetc.com/stock-images/de
tail.asp?pid=1467
*Boy with blue waistcoat (1919).
*Cypress Trees and Houses (1919).
*The Little Peasant (1919).
*Self Portrait (1919).

==External links==
Commons|Amedeo Modigliani
*http://www.modigliani-amedeo.com/HomeENG.htm
Official site of the Archives légales of
Modigliani
*http://www.abcgallery.com/M/modigliani/modigliani
.html Modigliani at Olga's Gallery
*http://www.whoismodi.com Companion site to
exhibition 'Modigliani and the Artists of
Montparnasse'