The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 74. Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz (1916)

 

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

The 74th work to introduce for this week is “Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz” in 1916.

This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on a canvas with the size of 81.3 x 54.3 cm, and possessed by the Art Institute of Chicago, USA.

Art Institute of Chicago

This is a double portrait depicting Modigliani's friend, the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz and his wife Berthe Kitrosser, a Russian poet, and one of only two double portraits by Modigliani. This work depicts a nicely dressed Lipchitz standing, with one hand on the shoulder of his wife, Berthe, in their Paris apartment, formerly the home of the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. 

The Kiss, Constantin Brâncuși (1907-08)

An example of works showing the genius Modigliani's talent, expressing the character and personality of the model through paintings, both models in the work have mask-like faces, but the difference in personality of each model is excellently and delicately displayed in the painting. 

First of all, Berthe, who has eyes tilting downward, has an open, kind and gentle face. On the other hand, Jacques, who has small and compressed eyes featuring sloping inward, appears calculating and suspicious, and his eyes also clearly reflect the influence of Cubism.

Modigliani and Lipchitz were artists of Jewish descent, and in Paris they met in the same artistic circles and became close friends. However, despite their commonalities, the two had distinct differences. Lipchitz was an example of industrious artists, while Modigliani was an example of bohemian artists.

In 1916, Lipchitz, who married Berthe at the time and signed a contract with the art dealer Leonce Rosenberg and had some money, asked Modigliani to paint a portrait of him and his wife.

Jacques Lipchitz

In response to Lipchitz's request for painting, Modigliani replied, "My price is ten francs a sitting and a little alcohol."

Modigliani came to his home the next day and made a lot of preliminary drawings with tremendous speed and precision, after which the pose inspired by their wedding photo was decided. The next day Modigliani came with an old canvas and his painting material box and began painting. He sat in front of the canvas on a chair, drew quietly, stopped painting occasionally, took a gulp of alcohol nearby, and continued painting again. At the end of the day, he said, "Well, I guess it's finished."

Then Lipchitz, who wanted to pay as much as possible to his friend Modigliani, was uncomfortable to give Modigliani merely 10 francs for this painting, and made excuses for him to continue working on the portrait, which finally took almost two weeks to complete this portrait.

Currently, among the many preliminary drawings by Modigliani that were drawn for this work, there are five surviving: two of Lipchitz, two of Berthe, and one of them together.

Study for "Berthe Lipchitz" for
"Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz"

Study for "Jacques Lipchitz" for
"Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz"

Along with this work, there is other double portrait that Modigliani painted, “Bride and Groom (1915)”. 

Bride and Groom, Amedeo Modigliani
(1915)

Comparing the two works, Modigliani expressed the model like character puppets in the "Bride and Groom", while in the portrait of Jacques Lipchitz and his wife, he transformed character puppets-like model into human beings. In other words, this difference in the two works means that Modigliani's view for the model has evolved from a purely formal depiction to an individual characterization.

Lipchitz was also the person who created his death mask, after Modigliani's death in 1920.

Death mask of Modigliani, Jacques Lipchitz
(1920)

 

The work was purchased by Frederick C. and Helen Birch Bartlett in Chicago in 1922 and then donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1926 as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.

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The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 34. Bride and Groom (1915)

How are you?

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

The 34th work to introduce for this week is “Bride and Groom (1915)”.

This work is a portrait of an expressionist style and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 55.2 x 46.4 cm.

It is currently owned by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, USA.

This work has various titles such as "The Newlyweds" and "The Couple".

Most of Modigliani's works are portraits of individuals, but this work, which he painted a couple, is one of the most unusual and rare works.

Modigliani also painted most of his works using the poor as models, but it is also exceptional to depict rich people.

In this work, the man can be imagined as a rich man in his cool and expensive dress, and the woman’s dress cannot be seen, but it is easily imagined that she also may be wearing a cool and expensive dress that matches the groom's level.

This work is a good example showing some of Modigliani's unique work styles.

In other words, the elongated face and neck of the model are such examples, and the models’ small mouth, pointed nose and empty eyes without pupils also show the typical style of Modigliani influenced by African masks and sculptures.

The woman in this work also shows the aesthetic ideal that Modigliani pursues: dark hair and pale skin.

There are only two works, which Modigliani, who specialized in a single figure, depicted a couple.

They are the “Bride and Groom” and a year later, in 1916, “Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz”. For that reason, this work is often compared with “Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz”.

However, if the two works are compared, this work is much more faithful to African masks and sculptures, while the portrait of Jacques Lipchitz couple is much softer and more curved.

The actual character of this work is unknown, but it is likely that they are acquaintances of Modigliani, as the figures of his other portraits. However, Modigliani met a variety of people while living in Paris, so they might be a couple whom Modigliani doesn't know at all.

Jean Cocteau once said that this work might be inspired by the upstarts whom Modigliani accidentally discovered on the road.

This work also reveals the influence of Cubism, which Modigliani was influenced, in many parts.

For the background, it looks as if the puzzle pieces have been put together, by systematically separating it into vertical and horizontal lines.

In addition, Modigliani divided the canvas in half, and strictly confined the man and woman in each half of the space and painted.

In each half of the canvas, a vertical line was drawn at the center of the man and woman, respectively, and the characteristics of the model were constructed around this vertical line.

In other words, to balance the right-sided nose and hat and the larger ear, Modigliani painted the left-sided beard and bow tie for the man and the left part of the dress darker.

For the woman, Modigliani painted the larger amount of hair by drawing the left side of her head higher and larger and the left-sided mouth to balance the right-sided nose, the earring on one side, and the shoulder on the right side.

Modigliani also emphasized the difference in height between the man and woman by using different background expression.

In other words, Modigliani used complex vertical and horizontal lines in the woman’s background while he did not express a specific background for the man.

In this work, the man and woman show opposite appearances: the man is tall and old, but the woman is small and young. Therefore, the two don't look like a couple.

Perhaps the reason why Modigliani, who mainly painted the poor, drew the rich couple might be to maximize ridicule and resentment against the rich by contrasting the unsuitable man and woman under the title, The Couple.

Perhaps Modigliani might express despise and ridicule for the rich who think of love easily by using the title, The Couple, ironically for the man and woman who seem to be immoral.

This work borrowed some styles of Cubism, but Modigliani still tries to stick to his subject of interest; human body and face.

Thank you.

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