The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 26. Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland (1914)

How are you?

Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The 26th work to introduce for this week is “Portrait of Frank Burty Haviland (1914)”.

This work is a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on cardboard with the size of 72.5 x 59.5 cm.

It is currently owned by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy.

The model for this work, “Frank Burty Haviland,” was a French cubist painter who was born on October 16, 1886 in Limoges and died in Perpignan in November 1971. He was a friend and a client of Picasso and Braque, and a collector of African art. 

Haviland was also the grandson of "Philippe Burty", an art collector and critic who coined the term "japonisme." Philippe's daughter, Madeline Burty, married Charles Haviland, the owner of the porcelain company "Haviland and Company".

Haviland lived most of his life in Céret and was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the “Musée d'Art Moderne de Céret,” founded in 1950. He also helped the museum acquire 14 works by Henri Matisse and over 50 works by Pablo Picasso.

Painted in Paris by Modigliani in 1914, this portrait marks his return to painting after a period of more than four years dedicated to sculpture. Haviland, who had a large collection of African sculptures, became close with Modigliani when he gave up sculpture and returned to painting.

In addition to this work by Modigliani, Havilland was presumed to be a model of “The Smoker (1913)” by Juan Gris and “Le Rouquin (1917~1919)” by Chaim Soutine.

In this work, Modigliani portrays the head of Haviland as if it were a sculpture made of stone. The biggest reasons why Modigliani abandoned the sculpture were that it was difficult to obtain the stone for the sculpture due to the war, and his health was deteriorated due to the work on engraving. Therefore, this work shows that although Modigliani had returned to painting, he still had some regrets about the sculpture and thus it is thought that Modigliani expressed Haviland's head as a sculpture to reflect his regret in this work.

Modigliani also experimented with various styles, trying to establish his definitive style by returning from sculpture to painting, and this work illustrates such efforts of Modigliani. For example, in this work, the elements of "Pointillism" as well as those of "Fauvism" in intense colors, were reflected. However, the techniques of Pointillism used by Modigliani are not systematic but intuitive and free.

It can be seen that they differ from the theoretical and systematic Pointillism techniques applied by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac, who were the representative artists of the Pointillism. In other words, Modigliani's use of the Pointillism techniques in this work is entirely experimental and temporary. As mentioned earlier, Modigliani was trying to find his definitive style, so it seems that he could try various styles in this work without the obligation and restrictions of using a specific style.

It is certain that Modigliani intentionally elongated the head of Haviland in a way that reflected the influence of the African sculptures which Modigliani was fascinated and the fact that Haviland was an ardent collector of African art.

Also, in this work, the image of Haviland, with the red cravat, brown jacket, the aquiline nose, small mouth and central parting of the hair, shows a sophisticated aesthetic such as Oscar Wilde, who was an Irish poet and playwright, reflecting that Haviland is a sophisticated artist from a wealthy family.

And the deeply thoughtful appearance of Havilland, holding a pipe in his hand and staring down, seems to suggest that he was a cautious and speculative artist.

Thank you.

Korean Blog

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 9. EDOUARD MANET

Name: Edouard Manet

Born: 23 January 1832, Paris, France

Died: 30 April 1883, Paris, France

Nationality: French

Art Movement: Realism, Impressionism

Active Years: 1849 – 1883

Field: Painting, Printmaking

Influenced by: Gustave Courbet, El Greco, Caravaggio, Eugene Delacroix

Influenced on: Edward Hopper, Ilya Repin, Paul Gauguin, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir 

Friends/Colleagues: Berthe Morisot, Henri Fantin-Latour, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Jean Béraud

Édouard Manet was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, and a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born into an upper-class household with strong political connections, Manet rejected the future originally envisioned for him, and became engrossed in the world of painting. His early masterworks, “The Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia” caused great controversy and served as rallying points for the young painters who would create Impressionism. Today, these are considered watershed paintings that mark the start of modern art. The last 20 years of Manet's life saw him form bonds with other great artists of the time, and develop his own style that would be heralded as innovative and serve as a major influence for future painters.

FAMOUS WORKS

ALL WORKS LIST (Edouard Manet)

RELATED ARTISTS

Gustave Courbet

El Greco

Caravaggio

Eugene Delacroix

Ilya Repin

Paul Gauguin

Edgar Degas

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Berthe Morisot

Claude Monet

ALL ARTISTS LIST

Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.

In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.

1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist

2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking

3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking

4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist.

5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art

Blog (Korean)

THE 2020 PLAN FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF AMEDEO MODIGLIANI

Hello,

Currently, I'm lecturing and writing books for music and fine art, and in the fine art sector, I am especially working as an expert of Amedeo Modigliani.

For Modigliani, I founded Modigliani Institute Korea, work as an art critic who introduces and reviews his works every week, write articles in worldwide art magazines, lecture, and write books.

In addition, Modigliani Institute Korea has partnered with Amalart in Milan, Italy, to carry out various activities related to Modigliani.

In particular, the upcoming 2020 will be the 100th anniversary of the death of Modigliani and I am planning to make some events with my Italian partner.

The planned events are to hold digital art exhibition for Modigliani’s works in South Korea, which is currently being held in Italy, conduct Modigliani’s art tour that follows his life from his birthplace to cemetery, launch the establishment of the Modigliani Museum, and make a film for Modigliani.

In order to make this Modigliani film, the advice or guidelines from worldwide experts in the film industry are need.

Please give me any advice or guidelines on the film making of Modigliani.

Thank you.

email: csydr@naver.com

29. World Music: Australia, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 29th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce some of the music in the lecture with a brief overview of the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.

https://blog.naver.com/csydr/220995605864

The 29th lecture for today is "World Music: Australia".

This lecture was the 29th lecture of “ACJ Music Academy”, which was held on 14 November 2015.

Indigenous music in Australia refers to the music of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.

The music has existed for many years, integrating the social and cultural elements of the people in these regions.

A representative instrument of traditional Australian indigenous music is the “didgeridoo”, the world's oldest woodwind instrument.

However, in modern times, these indigenous music are developing in the form of fusion mixed with various music styles such as rock 'n' roll, country, hip hop and reggae.

Under these circumstances, Australian Aboriginal singer ‘Jimmy Little’ was the first Australian Aboriginal singer, who succeed with his debut song "The Royal Telephone" in 1964.

Australia's “Bush Music” is a piece of traditional oral culture that dates back to songs sung by inmates who were deported to Australia during the early days of British colonies.

The songs are about the hard lives of people such as criminals, laborers, and herders, and among which is “The Wild Colonial Boy”.

Considered an unofficial national anthem in Australia, “Waltzing Matilda” is one of the typical Australian folk songs, inspired by Celtic folk ballads.

Australian folk music has a unique tradition that mixed Aboriginal traditional music with European folk music introduced from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In Australia, their traditional folk music from immigrants from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany and Scandinavia were dominant.

In this sense, Australian folk music are related to the folk music of other countries with similar ethnic, historical and political origins, such as New Zealand, Canada, and the United States.

Today, I will introduce 3 music as follows:

1. The Royal Telephone-Jimmy Little

2. The Wild Colonial Boy-The Clancy Brothers

3. Waltzing Matilda

You can listen to all the songs from following YouTube link.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmshmgJzYheBCsS5Jl4F-rPae0LaQ1do

Next week, I will lecture "World Music: Polynesia" as my 30th lecture.

Thank you.

Korean Blog

My Article for Modigliani Has Been Published in “Art & Museums Magazine” in London, England

Merry Christmas

I write this posting because I received happy news from London, England.

Early this year, I wrote an article for Modigliani and applied for publication to “Art & Museums Magazine”, an art magazine published in London, England.

Then after a long process, my article has been finally published in the 2019 winter edition.

Art & Museums Magazine is a quarterly publication dedicated entirely too international fine art collectors, investors, philanthropists and art professionals. The magazine covers news and information about the World of fine art, including collecting, investing in art, exhibitions, events, auctions, fine art law, forensics and much more.

The title of my article for the magazine is "Modigliani and His Muses."

Modigliani met many women during his life. Among them I wrote about some women, who were most influential to Modigliani, including Anna Akhmatova, Beatrice Hastings, Simone Thiroux, Jeanne Hebuterne, Nina Hamnett and Anna Zborowska.

As my article has been published in “Art & Museums Magazine,” I became a “guest writer” for this magazine.

Following an Italian art magazine "Quid Magazine", it is a great honor to publish my article in England.

Thank you.

Korean Blog

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 25. Portrait of Diego Rivera (1914)

How are you?

Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The 25th work to introduce for this week is “Portrait of Diego Rivera (1914)”.

This work is a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on cardboard with the size of 100 cm x 79 cm.

It is currently owned by the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

This work is unfinished because there is no signature of Modigliani.

The model, Diego Rivera, was a Mexican painter who was born on December 8, 1886 and died on November 24, 1957.

He is also the husband of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican surrealist painter.

In 1921, Rivera began a mural series that depicted the lives and history of Mexicans.

His massive frescoes played a major role in establishing the Mexican mural movement in Mexican art history.

Rivera began art studies at the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City from the age of ten.

After arriving in Europe in 1907, Rivera first studied art with “Eduardo Chicharro” in Madrid, Spain.

Then he moved to Paris, France, to live and work with many artists in Montparnasse, especially at La Ruche, where his friend Modigliani painted his portraits.

Rivera's friends, including Ilya Ehrenburg, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne, Max Jacob, Leopold Zborowski, and Moise Kisling, are well illustrated in the painting, "Homage to Friends from Montparnasse" drawn by Marie Vorobieff-Stebelska.

At the time, Paris was a time of witnessing the beginning of cubism in paintings of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque and Juan Gris, and Rivera enthusiastically accepted this new art movement.

Later, around 1917, Rivera, inspired by Paul Cezanne's paintings, shifted his style toward Post-Impressionism.

When Rivera stayed in Paris, he frequently visited Modigliani.

Modigliani and Rivera discussed art, drank, and sometimes argued violently about art.

For today’s work, it is a kind of sketchy oil painting that uses gray color as one of the main colors, giving the impression of frescoes that are difficult to find in other paintings of Modigliani, and some elements of the pointillism also appear.

The expression of such frescoes in this work can be assumed as Modigliani's intended suggestion, foreseeing that Rivera will become a famous painter for fresco in the future.

The round face like sun and good-looking eyes also suggest that Rivera is a friendly and supportive friend to Modigliani.

In this work, Modigliani used many curves, which make the appearance of Rivera softer, emphasizing that he is a good person and simultaneously conveying to viewers that Rivera is a person with a big fat body.

It also shows swirling spirals that are hard to find in other works of Modigliani.

The reason for the use of these spirals in this work seems that although Modigliani portrayed Rivera as a good figure, he also tried to express Rivera’s great artistic potential, including his beastly passion, outstanding imagination and strong charisma like swirling, inherent in Rivera, in this work.

Thank you.

Korean Blog

Pinterest

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: 8. PAUL CEZANNE

Name: Paul Cezanne

Born: 19 January 1839, Aix-en-Provence, France

Died: 22 October 1906, Aix-en-Provence, France

Nationality: French

Art Movement: Post-Impressionism

Field: Painting

Influenced by: Gustave Courbet, El Greco, Charles-Francois Daubigny, Nicolas Poussin, Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Influenced on: Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Jackson Pollock, Fernand Leger, Chaim Soutine, Piet Mondrian, Francis Bacon, Man Ray, Vilhelm Lundstrom, Paul Gauguin, Wassily Kandinsky, Michel Kikoine, Giorgio Morandi, Robert Falk, Harry Phelan Gibb, Marjorie Acker Phillips, Thomas Hart Benton

Friends/Colleagues: Paul Gauguin

Paul Cézanne was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavor to a new and radically different world of art in the 20th century. Cézanne's repetitive, exploratory brushstrokes are highly characteristic and clearly recognizable. Cézanne is said to have formed the bridge between late 19th-century Impressionism and the early 20th century's new line of artistic enquiry, Cubism. Both Matisse and Picasso are said to have remarked that "Cézanne is the father of us all".

FAMOUS WORKS

ALL WORKS LIST (Paul Cézanne)

RELATED ARTISTS

Gustave Courbet

El Greco

Nicolas Poussin

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Amedeo Modigliani

Chaim Soutine

Paul Gauguin

Wassily Kandinsky

ALL ARTISTS LIST

Currently, “J art”, an internet mall of “Art Collage JANG” is selling artprints of worldwide famous artists.

In relation with this sale, I will introduce one by one every week, whose artprints are on the sale list, by following categories.

1. Artist’s Bio: Introduce brief bio of selected artist

2. Famous Works: Move to the corresponding artprints in J art by clicking

3. All Works List: Move to all works of selected artist in J art by clicking

4. Related Artists: Move to the works of the artists in J art, who are related to the selected artist.

5. All Artists List: Move to the list of all artists selling artprints in J art

Blog (Korean)

28. World Music: America, ACJ Music Academy

How are you?

Following the last week, I am going to start my 28th lecture.

I had conducted music lectures at Art Collage JANG in Seoul, South Korea every Saturday from March 2015 to December 2017.

I am going to introduce some of the music in the lecture with a brief overview of the lecture by the lecture’s order every Saturday.

Please refer to the following link for my previous lectures.

https://blog.naver.com/csydr/220995605864

The 28th lecture for today is "World Music: America".

This lecture was the 28th lecture of “ACJ Music Academy”, which was held on 7 November 2015.

‘American folk music’ includes a variety of genres of music, of which traditional American music is called ‘Roots Music’.

‘Roots music’ is a wide-ranged music category, including ‘Gospel’, ‘Appalachian Music’, ‘Cajun Music’ and ‘Native American Music’.

These music are both native music in America and the music developed in America from the foreign countries, and they are called Roots music because they were served as the basis for the music later developed in America.

Some examples of Roots music are as follows.

1. Cajun Music

A typical ‘Louisiana’ music, rooted in the French-speaking ‘Acadian’ ballads in Canada. Cajun Music is often mentioned along with ‘Zydeco’, based on the ‘Creole’ and influenced by Cajun Music, both of which have the same origin from Acadia. This French-Louisiana music has influenced American popular music for decades, especially ‘Country Music’.

2. Appalachian Music

Traditional music from the ‘Appalachian’ region of the eastern America. It is rooted in a variety of European and African music, including English ballad songs, Irish and Scottish traditional music (especially fiddle music), hymns and African-American blues. Beginning with the first recording in the 1920s, Appalachian Music had a significant impact on the early developments of ‘Country Music’ and ‘Bluegrass’, and played a central role for ‘American Folk Music Revival’ movement.

The main instruments used to play the Appalachian music are banjos, American fiddles, dulcimers and guitars.

Country and Bluegrass artists such as ‘Loretta Lynn’, ‘Dolly Parton’, ‘Earl Scruggs’, ‘Chet Atkins’ and ‘Don Reno’ were significantly influenced by traditional Appalachian music.

3. Oklahoma/Southern Plains of America

Native Americans used songs and musical instruments, and for them music and dance were essential elements of their social activities. The musical center of the Native Americans in the Southern Plains was the ‘drum’, which was called the ‘heartbeat’ of Native American music in the Plains. Most of these genres can be traced back to hunting and war activities, which are the basis of plain culture. During the period of ‘Indian Reservation’, the Native Americans used music to soothe boredom and despair and they exchanged songs and dances with their neighbors, which is a part of the modern ‘powwow’ roots between tribes.

Today, I will introduce 3 music as follows:

1. J'ai Passe Devant ta Porte-The Balfa Brothers (Cajun Music)

2. The Grave of Little Mary Phagan-Fiddlin' John Carson (Appalachian Music)

3. Prophecy Song–Joanne Shenandoah (Native American Music)

You can listen to all the songs from following YouTube link.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSmshmgJzYhcl7kjz9rZ5yqS2DFvC_2dn

Next week, I will lecture "World Music: Australia" as my 29th lecture.

Thank you.

Korean Blog