The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 94. The Little Peasant (1918)

 

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Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) is currently introducing artworks of Amedeo Modigliani.

The 94th work to introduce for this week is “The Little Peasant” in 1918.

This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on canvas with the size of 100 x 65 cm and possessed by the Tate Gallery in London, England.

The original Tate Gallery, now renamed Tate Britain

It was painted in the room where Modigliani painted Jeanne Hébuterne during his stay with Jeanne in Nice, the southern France.

Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne, Amedeo
Modigliani (1918)

The identity of the model in this painting is not exactly known, and Modigliani would have been able to express the model in a more free form through the anonymity of the model.

The simplified form of the model shown in this painting once again reminds us of the influence that Modigliani received from Paul Cézanne.

Woman in a Green Hat (Madame Cezanne),
Paul Cézanne (1894-1895)

This painting is also one of Modigliani's first paintings to be purchased by the Hugh Blaker Collection in London, England in 1919 through Léopold Zborowski, the friend and art dealer of Modigliani.

Hugh Blaker

Portrait of Léopold Zborowski, Amedeo
Modigliani (1918)

The young country peasant in this painting gives a glimpse of Modigliani's same respect for the modest people, which Cézanne showed to the modest people of Provence. Despite their bourgeois background, Modigliani and Cézanne loved common people.

Modigliani said to Soutine: "Like the beautiful statues of antiquity, Cézanne's figures don't watch him. But my figures are watching me with an interest even if I draw their pupils. But like Cézanne's figures, they don't want to express anything other than they silently accept their lives."

The young country peasant, expressed without ornament or any embellishment, would have posed for his model, not even imagining that his portrait would become the collection of one of the most famous museums in the world in the future.

Another painting that Modigliani painted the same figure as this painting is shown below.

The young apprentice, Amedeo Modigliani
(1918)

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The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 75. Louise (1917)

 

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

The 75th work to introduce for this week is “Louise” in 1917.

This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on a canvas with the size of 55 x 43.8 cm, and held in private collection.

The year of 1917, when Modigliani painted this work, was the year he met his last lover, Jeanne Hébuterne, the time in which he began his peak period of his own unique style in his short life. 

Jeanne Hebuterne in Red Shawl, Amedeo
Modigliani

This work painted at this time reflects Modigliani's various unique styles, and although the identity of the model is not exactly known, the name of the model can be guessed from the title of the work, “Louise”. Modigliani's distinctive styles in this work are almond-shaped eyes, elongated face and neck, and Modigliani's genius talent for portraying the model's personality and character in his paintings can also be seen.

Because of the short hair, the model might be seen as a male at first glance but can be seen as a female through a necklace on her neck. Models have very elongated face and neck, and her short hair has the effect of making them look longer. In addition, the model's eyebrows, which have almost the same curves as the model's eyes, give a very unique feeling.

The model's eyes, which almost seem to be empty and through which the background behind can be seen, adding blurry pupils, look gloomy, and such feeling can also be seen in Modigliani's other works of this period. Modigliani is characterized by not drawing very detailed when drawing model’s ears exposed, but in this work, they are expressed in relatively detailed by even drawing outlines on them.

In addition, this work, using a lot of blue tones, gives overall gloomy feeling and these tones make the model more gloomy, and it's also reminiscent of the works of Picasso's Blue Period.

The Old Guitarist, Blue Period, Pablo
Picasso

The background of this work is generally tilted left and the model is also positioned left from the center. In such case, unlike other Modigliani’s paintings, which generally balance the composition by biasing other elements to the right, these elements do not exist in this work.

Modigliani's unique painting styles such as elongated face, neck and body of the model, can be considered to have originated from the influence of Italian art that he studied in his hometown of Italy before moving to Paris. He had a lot of knowledge of Italian art and was also influenced by many Italian Old Masters. 

The examples of works that can see his influence are “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli and “The Madonna with the Long Neck” by Parmigianino. 

The Birth of Venus, Sandro Botticelli

Madonna with the Long Neck,
Parmigianino

With this influence, Modigliani, who moved to Paris, gradually established his own unique painting styles, being influenced by African art, including African sculptures, Cubism, and the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși he met in 1909.

Portrait of Mademoiselle Pogany, Constantin
Brâncuși

The first owner of this work was Léopold Zborowski who became Modigliani's art dealer after his relationship with Paul Guillaume ended. 

Portrait of Leopold Zborowski, Amedeo
Modigliani

Paul Guillaume, Amedeo Modigliani

Zborowski was introduced to Modigliani by Moïse Kisling, and Modigliani painted several portraits of Zborowski and his wife Anna.

Portrait of Moise Kisling, Amedeo
Modigliani

Portrait of Anna Zborowska, Amedeo
Modigliani

This work was sold at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale auction on November 3, 2008, and is now in private collection. 

Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, Sotheby’s

It was restored for this auction and a dark oxidated varnish layer was removed.

Comparison of restoration (before vs. after)

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The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 70. Chakoska (Portrait of Lunia Czechowska) (1917)

 

 

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

The 70th work to introduce for this week is “Chakoska (Portrait of Lunia Czechowska)” in 1917.

This work is an expressionist style portrait and an oil painting on a canvas with the size of 81 x 45 cm, and currently held in MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo) in São Paulo, Brazil.

São Paulo Museum of Art

This painting is a portrait of Lunia Czechowska from Poland, a friend of Léopold Zborowski, who was Modigliani's art dealer, patron and friend. Modigliani painted many portraits of her, and this is one of a series showing Lunia wearing a cameo.

The period that Modigliani met Lunia almost coincides with the time when he met Jeanne Hébuterne, between late 1916 and early 1917. Modigliani was strongly attracted to Lunia, the model for this painting, that he painted her many times and formed a strong emotional bond with her. However, she recalled that Modigliani's such feelings appeared to her like an obsessive way when drawing her, which sometimes made her feel even fearful. On the other hand, she also said that she was always amazed at Modigliani's ability to completely reveal her soul by completely transforming her image into something completely new in the painting.

In the fall of 1919, when Modigliani found that he had severe tuberculosis and Hébuterne fell into a depression, it was Lunia who helped the two.

The background of this painting is painted thick like other portraits of her. The dull-looking dark gray background harmonizes with Lunia's sad-looking gaze, the color of her hair and a dark gray skirt. The pure white, collarless blouse is decorated with a cameo that can be also seen in her other portraits, and the point on her neck is balanced with the cameo.

In this painting, the eyes are painted black instead of the eyes without pupils, which is one of his unique painting styles. Modigliani often drew eyes without pupils when it was difficult to understand the model's mind. However, Lunia's eyes painted black seems to feel as if she is looking at Modigliani with compassion. Her sad-looking gaze, who supported Modigliani, seems to reflect the feeling of Modigliani that she seems to be looking at him that way.

She said “I immediately felt such a strong feeling that he wanted me to give up everything to follow him.”

However, in this painting, since Lunia is depicted as a dull face, Modigliani's intense passion towards her is not felt at all.

This painting was one of the earliest portraits of Lunia, and Modigliani wrote her name phonetically, “Chakoska.”

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