MODIGLIANI and his Models – A Retrospective at the Tate
Modern June 2017.
A short but legendary life.
Influenced by many
different styles, from ancient Egyptian, through tribal African
to French post impressionism, Modigliani’s highly original and modern style of
painting has a different and unusual quality about it. Apart from a few odd landscapes mainly done
in Provence, his work was restricted to portraits and nudes.
Modigliani portrayed
the naked female body as a subject in its own right, free for the first time of any of the
traditional references and artistic convention of the past.
His nudes are sensuous , each one an expanse of pure flesh contained
within ornamental, softly curved lines. There is nothing else in the picture , hardly
any background and therefore very little to distract the viewer from the main
subject – a beautiful naked erotic woman ,
never aggressive , sometimes carnal and always dignified.
His highly original
and modern style of portraiture,
featuring elongated faces, blank eyes and long swan necks are , just like those of Tamara
de Lempicka, a female contemporary
equally famous for her Slavonic beauty and degenerate and outrageous
lifestyle, unmistakeable even from a
distance.
Body Painting , Public Hair & the Naturist
Magazine Health & Efficiency.
In 1914 a number of
works by Modigliani were included in an exhibition of 20th century
Art held at Whitechapel Gallery in East London ( my local Art
hangout ) and it was there that he met
he met the journalist Beatrice Hastings.
Born in Hackney of a South African father and an English mother ,
Beatrice who was unashamedly bisexual practised
almost as outrageous and excessive a lifestyle as Modigliani. They soon became lovers living together in
Paris where they were for a time considered to be the perfect match.
In 1915 they were invited
to a grand ball in the centre of Paris attended by many of the capital’s most
influential and wealthy people. At
first sight they appeared to be dressed in the very height of fashion , and
indeed Modigliani was so attired. But on
closer inspection the other guests were shocked to discover that Beatrice was
in fact stark naked her entire ensemble having been expertly painted on her
nude body by her lover. Popularised for many years in naturist circles all over
the world as a recognised art form , this outrageous act was probably the
very first record of body painting as a contemporary style
Modigliani was also the
first modern artist to include pubic hair on his female nudes , breaking one of the unwritten rules of
traditional art regarding the portrayal of nakedness that had stood unchallenged for many hundreds
of years. In reality no one had taken
that much notice of it until the day, in 1917,
that he staged his first ( and
only ) one man show in a Paris gallery . A picture placed in the window caught
the eye of a passing policeman who immediately had the entire exhibition closed
down on the grounds of obscenity – referring in his complaint to the disgusting
sight of pubic hair.
In an equally
controversial move in London , England nearly sixty years later , the naturist magazine Health & Efficiency published the first photographs of naked women showing their pubic
hair. Until then the complete pubic
area of naked models had been air brushed completely out of view in all
published photography. It caused a big
stir at first , but before the authorities could do much about it all the other
glamour and nudie magazines had followed suit.
It was a “ fait accompli “
finally overturning the rules of censorship in Britain that had prevented the
proper depiction of the body natural for hundreds of years.
During his lifetime
Modigliani never greatly valued his
work, selling much of it for next to
nothing and even giving lots of it away , but
immediately after his death his paintings became very sought after. As demand rapidly increased, prices went quite mad and have been so ever
since, remaining amongst the highest
amounts paid for any artist, with one
nude selling at a New York auction for almost 27 million dollars.
The recent book by Jeffrey
Meyers entitled Modigliani : A Life
makes an excellent read.
Born in 1884 into a wealthy Jewish/Italian family in Livorno , Amadeo Modigliani began his studies in art at the age of fourteen. Two years later he became seriously ill and to speed his recovery was taken by his mother to spend the winter in the warmer climes of Rome and Capri. He left his place of birth in the following year to continue his studies in Florence and Venice and in 1906 moved to Paris, joining the well established and international avant-garde community of writers and artists, whose lifestyles were an unconventional mix of every sort of sexual excess and morality.
Although his paintings , drawings and sculptures were exquisite examples of a regressive and tasteful style his private life was the exact opposite. Described as decadent debauched and drunken, and addicted to drugs, alcohol and violent sex, Modigliani soon became legendary even amongst such contemporaries for his dissolute and highly immoral lifestyle. But he was also well bred , very intelligent, extremely good looking, slim, and elegantly dressed, a combination that in spite of his addictive behaviour made him supremely attractive to women of just about every background.
A self destructive genius he died in 1920 at the age of 35, but not before he had established himself not as the most talented perhaps , but certainly as one of the most popular artists of the period. A friend of Picasso - a portrait he painted of him in 1915 was on show in the exhibition – Modigliani, had he lived long enough would undoubtedly have found equal fame and fortune.
His highly original and modern style of portraiture, featuring elongated faces, blank eyes and long swan necks are , just like those of Tamara de Lempicka, a female contemporary equally famous for her Slavonic beauty and degenerate and outrageous lifestyle, unmistakeable even from a distance.
Body Painting , Public Hair & the Naturist Magazine Health & Efficiency.
In 1914 a number of works by Modigliani were included in an exhibition of 20th century Art held at Whitechapel Gallery in East London ( my local Art hangout ) and it was there that he met he met the journalist Beatrice Hastings. Born in Hackney of a South African father and an English mother , Beatrice who was unashamedly bisexual practised almost as outrageous and excessive a lifestyle as Modigliani. They soon became lovers living together in Paris where they were for a time considered to be the perfect match.
In 1915 they were invited to a grand ball in the centre of Paris attended by many of the capital’s most influential and wealthy people. At first sight they appeared to be dressed in the very height of fashion , and indeed Modigliani was so attired. But on closer inspection the other guests were shocked to discover that Beatrice was in fact stark naked her entire ensemble having been expertly painted on her nude body by her lover. Popularised for many years in naturist circles all over the world as a recognised art form , this outrageous act was probably the very first record of body painting as a contemporary style
