Amedeo Modigliani

Jacques Netter, Paris
Galerie Bing et Cie, Paris
W. George
G. Scheiwiller
Félix Fénéon, Paris
Solomon R. Guggenheim (acquired from the above in 1932)
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (sale: Sotheby's, New York, 17th May 1990, lot 39)
Purchased at the above sale by the previous owner

Paris, Galerie Bing et Cie, Modigliani, 1925, no. 25 or no. 28
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Italienische Maler, 1927, no. 103
Charleston, Carolina Art Association, Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings, 1936, no. 118
Philadelphia, Philadelphia Art Alliance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings, 1937, no. 183
Charleston, Gibbes Memorial Art Gallery, Solomon R. Guggenheim Collection of Non-Objective Paintings, 1938, no. 257
Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art and New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Modigliani: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, 1951
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Selection II,  1953
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Interim Exhibition of Museum Collection, 1954
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Selection IV, 1954
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Interim Exhibition of Museum Collection, 1955
Montreal, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, A Selection from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1955, no. 42, illustrated on the cover of the catalogue
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Selection V, 1955
Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum, Twentieth Century Paintings from Three Cities: New York, New Haven, Hartford, 1955, no. 38, pl. II, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Recent Acquisitions and Loans II, 1957
San Antonio, Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, Modigliani, 1957, no. 2, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Recent Accessions, 1958
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Inaugural Selection, 1959
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Acquisitions, 1953-1961, 1961
Vienna, Museum des 20. Jahrhunderts, Kunst von 1900 bis heute, 1962, no.147, illustrated in the catalogue
Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester Art Museum, Aspects of Twentieth Century Painting Lent by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1963, no. 30, illustrated in the catalogue
Frankfurt, Steinernes Haus (Frankfurter Kunstverein), Amedeo Modigliani, 1963, no. 23, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy and London, Tate Gallery, Modigliani, 1963, no. 38, pl. 22, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Paintings from the Collection of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1965, no. 47, illustrated in the catalogue
Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Twentieth Century Italian Art, 1966
Providence, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Seven Centuries of Italian Art, 1967
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Acquisitions of the 1930's and 1940's. A Selection of Paintings, Watercolors and Drawings in Tribute to Baroness Hilla von Rebay, 1890-1967, 1968, p. 26, illustrated in the catalogue
New York, Acquavella Galleries, Inc., Amedeo Modigliani, 1971, no. 40, illustrated in colour in the catalogue
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Classics in the Collection, 1972
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, (Selections from the Guggenheim Museum Collection) Recent Acquisitions 1972-1973, 1973
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Guggenheim Museum Collection: Paintings 1880-1945. 1976
New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, School of Paris: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Collection, 1978
Tokyo, Daimaru Department Store and Osaka, Daimaru Department Store, 1979
Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection and Stuttgart, Schirn Kunsthalle, A Half Century of European Paintings 1910-1960 from the Guggenheim Museum, 1986
Prague, Národní Galerie and Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Modern Treasures from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1989
Tokyo, Musée Tobu; Kyoto, Musée Daimaru de Kyoto; Osaka, Musée Daimaru d'Umeda and Ibaraki, Musée d'Art, Moderne, Amedeo Modigliani, 1992-93, no. 34, illustrated in colour in the catalogue 

Waldemar George, "Modigliani", in L'Amour de l'art, Paris, October 1925, p. 385
Giovanni Scheiwiller, Amedeo Modigliani, Milan, 1927, illustrated
Arthur Pfannstiel, L'art et la vie. Modigliani, Paris, 1929, illustrated in colour
Raffaello Franchi, Modigliani, Florence, 1946, pl. XXV, illustrated in colour
Gotthard Jedlicka, Modigliani, Zurich, 1953, pl. 34, illustrated
Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son œuvre, Paris, 1956, p. 145, no. 279 (catalogued)
Ambrogio Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani, Milan, 1958, no. 100, illustrated
Leone Piccioni and Ambrogio Ceroni, Das gemalte Werk von Modigliani, Milan, 1970, p. 101, no. 259, illustrated
Joseph Lanthemann, Modigliani. Catalogue raisonné, Barcelona, 1970, no. 368, illustrated
Werner Schmalenbach, Amedeo Modigliani. Paintings, Sculptures, Drawings, Munich, 1990, no. 82, illustrated in colour
Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani. Catalogo Generale, Milan, 1991, p. 275, no. 272, illustrated in colour
Kenneth Wayne, Modigliani and the Artists of Montparnasse, New York, 2002, no. 37, illustrated in colour

The mannerist, elongated features of the boy’s face and his dreamy, melancholy expression make the present work one of Modigliani’s most accomplished male portraits. In April 1918 Modigliani and his companion Jeanne Hébuterne left Paris for the French Riviera, in order to spend the rest of the war in relative safety. Modigliani stayed on the Riviera until May 1919, dividing his time between Nice and Cagnes, and was in contact with a number of Parisian artists who had moved to the south of France for the same reason. Unlike his earlier portraits, which often depicted famous individuals from his circle of friends, including the artists Kisling, Cocteau, Lipchitz and Soutine, as well as writers such as Max Jacob and Paul Guillaume, during his stay on the Riviera he focused on painting anonymous sitters, executing a number of portraits of children, peasants (fig. 1), servants and shop girls. Modigliani painted two versions of Garçon à la veste bleue: in the present work, formerly in the collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the boy is seen frontally, seated on a wooden chair with this hands crossed on his lap, his head slightly tilted to one side. In the other version (fig. 2), he is depicted in the same buttoned-up blue jacket and dark trousers, and on the same chair, his head supported by his left arm, leaning on a wooden table.

 

Fig. 1, Amedeo Modigliani, Le Petit paysan, circa 1918, oil on canvas, Tate Modern London

Fig. 2, Amedeo Modigliani, Garçon à la veste bleue, 1918-19, oil on canvas, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana

Fig. 3, View of the Modigliani exhibition at Galerie Bing, Paris in 1925, showing the present work towards the middle