Amedeo Modigliani

Paul Alexandre Collection, Paris
Frank Perls Gallery, Beverly Hills
Knoedler & Co., New York

Ambrogio Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani Dessins et Sculptures, Milan, 1965, no. 46, p. 30, illustrated 
Ambrogio Ceroni & Leone Piccioni, I Dipinti di Modigliani, Milan, 1970, illustrated p. 106
J. Lanthemann, Modigliani Catalogue Raisonné, 1884-1920, Paris, 1970, no. 468, p. 138, illustrated p. 284
Christian Parisot, Modigliani Catalogue Raisonné, Livorno, 1990, no. 19/10, p. 340, illustrated p. 237
Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani Catalogo Generale, Milan, 1992, illustrated p. 98

Good condition; not laid down; hinged to board at corner with glue stain visible at lower right corner; sheet is slightly wavy. There are old hinge marks visible at the top edge; some staining at the right corner and center edge; one spot of lightened paper in the figure's neck; sheet is slightly time darkened; pin holes in top 2 corners.
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The present work is a remarkable example of Modigliani's exploration of Cariatids, the theme that preoccupied the artist during his early years in Paris, leading up to the First World War. It was Modigliani's dream to create a great series of stone cariatids but his poor health limited the scope of his production in this medium, and instead he turned to a two-dimensional exploration of this theme, executing a large number of drawings and studies, and a few rare paintings. The highly-stylized, geometricized forms were influenced not only by tribal artefacts, but also by the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, who similarly sought to reduce the human form to the minimal sculptural elements.

The subject of Cariatids additionally derives from Modigliani's fascination with the nude or partly draped female figures that supported the roofs of ancient Greek temples. Borrowing the theme from classical antiquity, the artist detached the cariatids from their architectural setting, transforming a decorative device into an autonomous figure. As Noël Alexandre remarked, "Modigliani was enchanted by these figures - at once real and unreal - whose inflexibility, imposed by their functional role, is relieved by the fantasy of their being atlantes or idealized women. [...] The subtle use of stylization and simplification derived from African masks, tattoos, earrings and necklaces, intensifies the majestic elegance of these beautiful creatures, who epitomize the highly personal devotion that Modigliani showed to women" (N. Alexandre, The Unknown Modigliani: Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre (exhibition catalogue), The Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1993, p. 189).

Noël Alexandre notes, "These drawings are derived from about twenty basic forms, each repeated in depth. Modigliani conducted his search for perfect balance by varying imperceptibly one or another element of the geometric and symbolic structure, and by heightening contrasts to the greatest possible degree... The elements which define the face go back to fundamental forms: the circle, the oval, the intersection of two arcs, the rectangle, the triangle. The straight vertical line is often provided by the neck and by the elongated axis of the nose..." (op. cit., p. 237).

Fig. 1 Amedeo Modigliani, Cariatide, Limestone, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York