Modigliani

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 20^th 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 20^th 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