Seungyong Chang

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 8. Nude with Hat

How are you?

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

The 8th work to introduce this week is “Nude with Hat (1908)”.
It is an oil painting on canvas having a size of 80.6 x 50.1 cm
This is a portrait of a nude woman on the other side of the “Portrait of Maude Abrantes”, which was introduced as 6th work by The Modigliani Institute Korea.
However, the hat worn by the model seems to merely act as a dark background rather than a hat.
There are still various argues as to who the model is, but she is considered the same model as Modigliani's "The Jewish Woman", and is likely "Maude Abrantes", given the eyebrows, nose and lip shape of the model.
This painting was drawn by emphasizing only the face of the model, and shows the style of Modigliani to express the model's personality and characters as accurately as possible.
In 1908, Modigliani drew the "Portrait of Maude Abrantes" on the same canvas on which this work was painted.
It was common for painters at that time to draw on both sides of the same canvas, when they didn’t have money, and especially when they did not satisfy the draft of the first painting, and it was the same with Modigliani.
In general, the painter at that time turned the canvas over to use the other side for other painting but unlike common cases, Modigliani also turned it upside down for other painting.
In reality, however, there is the third painting on the canvas, which is a woman painted under the “Portrait of Maude Abrantes”, who can identify her eyes, face outline and hat on the part of the neck and the chest of Abrantes.
One day, Ofra Rimon, the director and curator of the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa in Israel, suddenly discovered another woman who had not previously recognized when introducing this painting to the museum's visitors.
Modigliani seems that he was unsatisfied while painting this woman, decided to abandon it, and drew Maude Abrantes on the painting.
However, Modigliani was still dissatisfied with this situation and turned the canvas over and painted the woman again in the clean side of the canvas.
Therefore, “Nude with Hat” to introduce this week is actually the third painting which Modigliani drew on this canvas.

Thank you.

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 7. Woman's Head with Beauty Spot

How are you?

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

The 7th work to introduce this week is “Woman's Head with Beauty Spot (1906)”.

It is an oil painting on canvas having a size of 33 x 24 cm.

It is estimated that Modigliani considered this painting a particularly important work because he took it to the house of Paul Alexandre in Delta Street, who was the first patron of Modigliani and the first owner of the painting.

Modigliani painted this work in the year when he moved to Paris.

This work shows the traces of classical art he studied at the Schools of Art in Florence and Venice before moving to Paris.

This painting is a very individual work in the respect that Modigliani did not care much except for the model’s face for painting, and thus the model's hair and clothes are not clearly distinguished from the background.

The painting is also characterized by the model being drawn at a much closer distance than other works of Modigliani.

Although the model’s unique feature is a beauty spot, it seemed that Modigliani tried to emphasize the character of the model through the model's frontal pose and the gaze.

Thank you.

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 6. Portrait of Maude Abrantes

How are you?

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

The 6th work to introduce this week is “Portrait of Maude Abrantes (1908)”.

It is an oil painting on canvas having a size of 80.6 cm x 50.1 cm.

It is currently owned by the Hecht Museum at University of Haifa in Israel.

It was in November (or December) 1907 when Modigliani met Abrantes.

She was a friend of Modigliani and his patron, Paul Alexandre, who described her as "the most elegant woman”.

Abrantes was also a woman, who painted and enjoyed parties with artists.

However, a year later, in 1908, she said goodbye to her friends and left for New York with pregnancy.

The arguments about the father of her pregnant child are divided, and some claim that Modigliani is the father of the child.

In this picture, Abrantes is painted in a very unique way.

The combination of blue and orange colors used for her face creates an elegant but more or less unstable atmosphere.

Her face looks so pale as if she is bloodless, her eyes are almost closed as if she keeps her own secret sorrow, and the exaggerated expression of her lips makes her look like a wicked woman.

The blue shadows around her eyes add to her emotional anxiety and pain.

Modigliani, who was famous for expressing the personality or characteristics of the model in the painting, seems to have also expressed her personality or characteristics in this picture.

Since Modigliani also painted this work before establishing his own painting styles, he might have experimented with various painting styles in this painting, resulting in an expressive and dramatic image of the model.

And one of the reasons this picture became an issue is the fact that there is another painting on the other side of the canvas of this work.

I will explain it in detail in the next Modigliani news.

Thank you.

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 5. Head of a Woman with a Hat

How are you?

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

The 5th work to introduce this week is “Head of a Woman with a Hat”.

Modigliani created "Head of a Woman with a Hat” in 1907.

This painting belongs to Expressionism and a portrait genre.

The size of this work is 27 x 35 cm and the media is watercolor on paper.

This painting depicts a woman wearing a large hat with a feather.

Modigliani used a combination of colors to give a rich texture on the picture such as expressing the woman's hair in orange and her hat in dark purple.

Modigliani carefully placed everything in the picture, as the viewer wanted to see the beautiful hair of the model, so that the hat was slightly placed above the lady's head in such a way that the hat did not occupy the entire space above the picture.

Modigliani used a bright color in background to harmonize with the woman's face in this painting.

He also wanted the reviewer to appreciate the beauty of the woman and see how fashion can change her image.

The hat matching with the feather makes her appear somewhat classical and authoritative.

He also avoided over-decorating the picture to avoid losing his intentions in the painting.

Thank you.

The Introduction of the Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 4. A Bearded Man

How are you?

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

The 4th work to introduce this week is “A Bearded Man”.

Modigliani created this work in 1905.

It was drawn with ink and paper, and the size is 42.8 x 26.13 cm.

Despite the simplicity of the materials used in this work, Modigliani expressed the character of the figure very well, effectively using lines of various thicknesses.

Modigliani was an Italian painter who had a Jewish lineage.

As an Italian Jew, he created some works on Jewish culture or communities in Europe at that time.

It is one of the works showing such subjects, expressing a Jew characterized by beards.

Along with the "The Jewish Woman", it is also one of the works by Modigliani, expressing his identity as a Jewish lineage.

Modigliani is known for depicting the characters of the figures very well in his later paintings.

Considering it is his one of the early works, it is evident that his such painting style was not suddenly built up afterwards but Modigliani had it from his early age.

Thank you.

The Introduction of The Works by Amedeo Modigliani: 3. The Tuscan Road

How are you?

The Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) recently introduced two works, “Autoportrait” and “Portrait du fils du peintre Micheli”, by Amedeo Modigliani, with the introduction of the MIK.

The Modigliani Institute Korea (MIK) will continue to introduce the works by Amedeo Modigliani one by one every week.

The work to introduce this week is “The Tuscan Road” as his third work.

This work is an oil painting by Modigliani in 1899, with a size of 21 × 36 cm, when he was studying art from his first art teacher, Guglielmo Micheli, in his hometown, Livorno.

It is also one of his early paintings that Modigliani painted before he moved to Paris in 1906, and one of the few landscapes he painted throughout his lifetime.

His teacher, Micheli, a painter influenced by the Macchiaioli, encouraged students to paint outdoors, which shows that Micheli worked in a manner close to impressionists.

This painting can be regarded as a work by Modigliani in the manner of an outdoor painting that Micheli, his teacher, encouraged to his pupils, and is considerably different from the style of the other landscape paintings he later painted.

In addition, like other early works by Modigliani, his characteristic painting styles, which are very famous to us, are not shown in this work at all.

Thank you.