The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 56. Woman in a Sailor Shirt (1916)

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

The 56th work to introduce for this week is “Woman in a Sailor Shirt” in 1916. This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on a canvas with the size of 55x35 cm, which is currently in Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The model of this work, with short black hair that emphasizes her oval face, is an unknown woman. The dark background and the model's clothes highlight the model's warm pink-colored face. The model for this work also appears in another portrait by Modigliani, "The Seated Servant Girl (La servetta seduta)" painted in the same year. The model's face is oval, but one of the features of the Modigliani painting style that elongates the model's body appears in the model's neck.

The Seated Servant Girl

This work was displayed in the solo exhibition of Modigliani, organized by his dealer Leopold Zbrowski, at the Berthe Weill Gallery in Paris in 1917. However, the exhibition resulted in the unfortunate end by being forcibly closed due to the paintings of female nudes in the window. 

Leaflet for Modigliani's solo exhibition, Galerie Berthe Weill (1917)

This work was purchased by Paul Guillaume in 1917, the same year of the exhibition, and then only rarely shown except for the exhibitions at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Bruxelles in 1933 and at Kunsthalle Basel in 1934 until it was taken over by the Toso collection in Venice in 1952.

The work, which was subsequently taken over by the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, was examined and restored by a restoration expert in the museum, whose importance was to rediscover the real appearances of Modigliani’s work. This work, which has been restored, recovered the color of the model's face that was deteriorated to beige to its original peach color. In addition, the overall color was changed by altering the blue and gray tones of the work, and the restored bright colors made this work more vivid and the background of the work now properly can be seen.

Comparison of restoration (before vs. after)

In addition, a thick layer of non-original varnish, both oxidized and yellowed, which was present in the work was removed by the restoration. After the restoration, another truth that was revealed is that Modigliani used the impasto technique, painting very thick layers to show maximum texture and three-dimensional effect in the work.

Impasto tracings

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The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 30. Antonia (1915), Modigliani Institute Korea

How are you?

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

The 30th work to introduce for this week is “Antonia (1915)” painted in Paris, France.

This work is a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 82 x 46 cm, and it is now owned by the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, France.

The identity of the model in this work was not exactly known but we can understand the model’s name is "Antonia" because Modigliani indicated the name of the model in the upper left of the work.

In the upper left of this work, Modigliani drew a beige rectangle using the Impasto technique, which paints thickly to give maximum texture and three-dimensional effect.

Then, Modigliani marked the name of the model “Antonia” in black on top of it, and next to the name, he drew a square containing a cross.

In the works painted by Modigliani in 1915, when this work was painted, he frequently wrote the name of the model, such as the portraits of Paul Guillaume and Madame Pompadour.

Also, the women whom Modigliani painted in this period often show common features such as elongated cylindrically-shaped neck, the use of geometric background lines and the face of round contours, and we can assume that these features are inspired by Cubism.

Although Modigliani was not a Cubist painter, this work emphasizes the sculptural feeling of a portrait inspired by Cubism, using mainly two dark colors such as brown color in the model’s hair and background, and black color in the dress.

This work thus shows Modigliani's free interpretive approach to Cubism.

For examples, the nose has different outlines on both sides, and the ears and hair are depicted differently on both sides, which suggests looking at the front and side of the model at the same time.

The green eyes look like they're looking at the viewer, but both eyes were treated as small ovals with no pupils.

The face and neck were also treated in Cubism manners. Overall, the model was extremely simplified in this work.

But her dark dress is in harmony with the black curtain on the left, and the curtains and windows in the background are in harmony with brown, black and dark blue.

The cross-sectional axis of the window is located on the central axis of the face, and the squared cross shape drawn next to the name “Antonia” in the upper left is reflected in the shape of the window to form the background geometrically.

The lines used in the background also make the picture more vibrant and contrast with the curves of the face and neck and the vertical lines of the folded arms.

The elongated form of the frame and the central position of the model, which coincides with the longitudinal axis of the dark window, further emphasize the elongated features of the model.

In this work, when looking at the whole part of the model, only the mouth maintains the natural feeling.

In other words, Modigliani interpreted the canvas frame as a whole and expressed the effect of Cubism on him on the almost entire canvas.

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