Amedeo Modigliani

Dr. Paul Alexandre, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1913)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Venice, Palazzo Grassi; Rouen, Musée des Beaux-Arts; Montreal, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (& travelling), Modigliani inconnu: Dessins de la Collection Paul Alexandre, 1993, no. 161, illustrated in the catalogue

Noël Alexandre, The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre, New York, 1993, no. 213, fig. 161, illustrated in colour p. 234
Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani, Catalogo Generale, Disegni 1906-1920, Milan, 1994, no. 952, illustrated p. 395

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, hinged to the mount at the upper two corners and floating in the mount. The left edge is serrated. There are a few accretions to the verso of the sheet which show through to the front as small stains, including one to her knee, one to the right of her thigh, and one to the centre of the left edge (all visible in the catalogue illustration). There are several flattened creases, mainly concentrated towards the upper edge and a few repaired nicks to the extreme left and right edges. There are some studio marks and dirt in places. Otherwise this work is in overall fairly good condition. Colours: overall fairly accurate in the printed catalogue, though the paper tone is less red in the original.
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The caryatid theme underpins the sculptural obsession of Modigliani's early years in Paris. He became absorbed by these partly draped figures which supported the pediments of ancient Greek temples. 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 a number of drawings and studies, and only a few rare paintings. Modigliani's caryatids, with their highly stylised, geometric forms, pay tribute to tribal artifacts, and to the sculptures of Constantin Brancusi, who similarly sought to reduce the human form to minimal sculptural elements.