Amedeo Modigliani

Dr Paul Alexandre, Paris (acquired directly from the artist)
Private Collection, Paris (by descent from the above)
A gift from the above to the present owner in 1996

Venice, Palazzo Grassi; London, The Royal Academy of Arts (and travelling to Cologne, Madrid, Florence, Montreal & Rouen), The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre, 1993-96, no. 83, fig. 255, illustrated in the catalogue

Osvaldo Patani, Modigliani, Catalogo generale, disegni 1906-1920 con i disegni provenienti dalla collezione Paul Alexandre (1906-1914), Milan, 1994, no. 916, illustrated p. 386

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount at the upper two corners and floating in the mount. The right edge is perforated and there is a small paper loss to the lower right corner. There are artist's pinholes to each of the upper two corners and one to the centre of the upper edge. There is a tiny and very well repaired nail-sized hole to the centre of the lower edge. There is some light surface dirt to the sheet, much of which is probably associated to the medium. Otherwise, this work is in overall good condition. Colours: Overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though the sheet is slightly less pink and the blacks more pronounced in the original.
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The caryatid theme expressed in the present work underpins the sculptural obsession of Modigliani's early years in Paris. It was Modigliani's dream to create a great series of stone caryatids 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 some 66 drawings and studies, and only a few rare paintings. Modigliani's caryatids, with their highly stylized, geometric forms, pay tribute to tribal artefacts, and to the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, who similarly sought to reduce the human form to minimal sculptural elements.

This frontal female portrait is one of the final sketches in a series of caryatids. When taken in conjunction with the entire series, it becomes evident that what we are presented with is one piece of Modigliani's process in conceptualizing the transition from head to capital in the caryatid design. Working from Khmer limestone archaeological heads, the artist was fascinated with mimicking their simplicity in his sketches, embodying their grandeur and permanence as well as their austerity. His deliberate mirroring of drawn elements demonstrates a captivation with aesthetic beauty, yet, in the work's stray marks, also reveals a certain imperfection. This duality between the perfection of symmetry and the freedom of inspiration are noted by Noël Alexandre: 'Modigliani pursued his search for ideal beauty in the simplest of forms with tenacity and intelligence... The more rigorous the symmetry, the greater his freedom in expressing the essential truth. Clearly this lies behind the vertical formats and the stress on frontality that are found in the drawings.' (quoted in: The Unknown Modigliani, 1993, p. 241)

The present work belongs to a series of sixteen sketches completed before Modigliani's departure for Livorno in April 1913. Within this series, it is one of three that the artist signed. Along with one other work in the set of black crayon drawings, Modigliani specifically framed this work for Alexandre. The sketch displaying a theme that dominated Modigliani's œuvre provides a visual representation of the very artistic process of creation Alexandre sought to encourage and preserve.