How are you?
Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is
currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.
The 43rd work to introduce for this
week is “Portrait of a Man with Hat (José Pacheco)”. This work is a portrait of an
expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 65 x 54 cm,
and currently in private collection.
José Pacheco (1885-1934) was a
Portuguese architect, graphic artist, set designer and painter. Born as a merchant's son, Pacheco
showed artistic talent from an early age. After studying architecture at the School
of Fine Arts of Lisbon, he entered the School of Architecture in Paris, where
served as an assistant professor.
Pacheco left his hometown of Lisbon
and moved to Paris in 1910. There he used the studio of Amadeo
de Souza Cardoso, who was a painter and his compatriot, in Cite Falguiere. He also continued his studies in architecture
and graphic arts in famous academies libres and ateliers. Pacheco, together with Fernando
Pessoa, who was close, founded the poetic movement Orfeu, and acted as a member
of Futurism that wanted to revolutionize graphic art in Portugal.
However, when his wife died in
1931, Pacheco began to suffer from severe neurasthenia, and then having turned
to religion, he sought social isolation. In 1932, Pacheco was admitted to a
nursing home but fled there and lived with his mother. Then, he died of tuberculosis
in 1934.
He had met Modigliani at the Cite
Falguiere, when Modigliani was engrossed in sculpture. The two had a very close
friendship and Pacheco organized an exhibition displaying seven sculptures of Modigliani,
based on the "temple of beauty" that Modigliani dreamed of realizing.
Before the outbreak of World War I, there were many Portuguese artists in
Paris, and Pacheco attracted Modigliani by his youthful spirit, rebellious
nature and love of poetry.
Hirsch & Adler, who exhibited
this work for today in New York in 1972, identified the model as Jose Pacheco.
In fact, the data of Pacheco that are owned by the Fondation Gulbenkian in Lisbon,
Portugal, which was founded by an entrepreneur, Calouste Gulbenkian, shows a
striking resemblance.
O Arquitecto Jose Pacheco, Mario Eloy (1925), Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, Portugal
Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
The first thing that stands out in
today's work is the model's ears, feeling like they are separately glued
together, painted with a slightly different color from the face. And from his
hat, scarf, and suit, he seems like a very stylish person. It also seems that he had a very
nervous and rebellious personality from his thin face, angled facial line and
nose.
From the composition aspect, the
face, the mouth, and the nose tilted to the left, are balanced with the hat
tilted to the right for overall composition balancing.
And the shirt on the inside is
treated with the same color as the background, giving the impression that the
face and clothes are floating in the air.
Thank you.
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