Amedeo Modigliani

Dr Paul Alexandre, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Venice, Palazzo Grassi; London, The Royal Academy (& travelling to Cologne, Madrid, New York, Florence, Montreal & Rouen), The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre, 1993-96, no. 238, cat. 114, illustrated in colour in the catalogue

Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani, Catalogo Generale, Disegni 1906-1920, Milan, 1994, no. 819, illustrated p. 361

Not examined out of the frame. Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, the sheet is probably attached at each of the four corners on the reverse to a sheet of card, floating in the mount. The left edge is perforated. There are some flattened creases to the lower right corner, and a larger flattened crease running parallel to the right edge. Apart from some glue residue to the upper left corner and some light surface dirt, this work is in very good condition. Colours: The paper tone is warmer in the original.
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The present and following lot, both exquisite drawings by Modigliani, belonged to the French physician, Dr Paul Alexandre, who was Modigliani's patron, friend and greatest admirer.

Paul Alexandre had an undying admiration for the young Italian artist whom he met in Paris in the autumn of 1907. He encouraged and supported Modigliani throughout his early years in Paris and their friendship resulted in Alexandre accumulating an unparalleled collection of works from Modigliani's formative years in Paris. Alexandre kept a clinic at rue Pigalle in Montmartre and not far from there, at 7 rue du Delta, he hired a pavilion, due for demolition, for the use of a group of artists including Modigliani.

Alexandre himself noted: 'From the day of our first meeting I was struck by his remarkable artistic gifts, and I begged him not to destroy a single sketchbook or a single study. I put the meagre resources I could spare at his disposal, and I possess almost all his paintings and drawings from this period... The preparatory sketches and finished drawings allow one to follow his development step by step, stroke by stroke, during those successive states (like the steps of an engraving) of the remarkably active mind of an artist searching for a style of his own which did, in fact, very soon emerge' (quoted in: The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre (exhibition catalogue), 1993-96, p. 15).

These two drawings were only seen in public for the first time in 1993 during the major touring exhibition The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre.