MODIGLIANI
\nTATE MODERN
\nNOVEMBER 23, 2017 – APRIL 2, 2018<\/p>\n
Despite his premature death at the age of 36, Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, whose innovative approach pushed back the boundaries of his art. From the end of November 2017 to April 2018, Tate Modern presents the most comprehensive exhibition ever devoted to Modigliani in the UK. It brings together some one hundred works: emblematic portraits and sculptures, as well as an unprecedentedly large group of nudes. The exhibition aims to shed new light on the process of creation and experimentation at the heart of Modigliani’s work. <\/p>\n
One of the highlights of the exhibition is a section devoted to the artist’s nudes, perhaps the best-known and most provocative part of his oeuvre. With these striking canvases, Modigliani invented a new type of composition that modernized figurative painting. These explicit representations provoked controversy, and his only solo exhibition, at the Galerie Berthe Weill in 1917, was censored by the police for offending public decency. The group of 10 nudes in the exhibition is the largest ever seen in the UK, and includes Seated Nude c.1917 (Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp) and Reclining Nude c.1919 (Museum of Modern Art, New York). <\/p>\n
Born in Livorno, Italy, Modigliani moved to Paris in 1906. His career was marked by constant change, and the exhibition opens with the artist’s arrival in the French capital, recalling the artistic environment and popular culture with which he came into contact and which were to be central to his life and art. <\/p>\n
Influenced by Paul C\u00e9zanne, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Pablo Picasso, Modigliani soon developed a highly personal style, as evidenced by Buste de Jeune Femme 1908 (Lille M\u00e9tropole Mus\u00e9e d’Art Moderne, Villeneuve -d’Ascq) and Le Mendiant de Lenghorn 1909 (private collection). His circle of friends included poets, merchants, writers and musicians, many of whom posed for his portraits: Diego Rivera 1914 (Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, D\u00fcsseldorf), Juan Gris 1915 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) or Jean Cocteau 1916 (The Henry and the Rose Pearlman Foundation, Princeton University Art Museum). The exhibition pays particular attention to the role and importance of women in Modigliani’s work, especially the poet and writer Beatrice Hastings, both the artist’s muse and a leading figure in the artistic world of the time. <\/p>\n
Modigliani also presents a remarkable selection of the artist’s sculptures, often less well known to the general public, including an important group of Heads created before the First World War. Despite poor health and limited means, Modigliani was to devote a short but intense period to sculpture, encouraged by contemporaries and friends including Constantin Brancusi and Jacob Epstein. For health reasons, Modigliani left Paris for a long period in 1918 to stay in the South of France. He adopted a more Mediterranean palette and began to paint local peasants and children instead of the usual city dwellers, as shown in Jeune femme du peuple 1918 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Gar\u00e7on \u00e0 la veste bleue 1919 (Indianapolis Museum of art). <\/p>\n
The exhibition closes with some of Modigliani’s most famous representations of his closest circle of friends. Serving as models, his friends and lovers also provided him with the financial and emotional support he needed to cope with his difficult living conditions. These included his dealer and close friend L\u00e9opold Zborowski and his partner Hanka, as well as Jeanne H\u00e9buterne, the mother of his child and one of the most important women in his life. When Modigliani died of tubercular meningitis in 1920, Jeanne tragically committed suicide, and the Tate Modern exhibition brings together several portraits of her in various guises, from young girl to mother. Some of Modgliani’s most sought-after portraits are the subject of exceptional loans from major international collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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