Amedeo Modigliani

Dr. Paul Alexandre, Paris (acquired from the artist)
Private Collection, France (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, February 8, 2006,  lot 161)
Purchased at the above sale by the present owner

Venice, Palazzo Grassi; London, The Royal Academy (and travelling to Cologne, Madrid, New York, Florence, Montreal & Rouen), The Unknown Modigliani, Drawings from the Collection of Paul Alexandre, 1993-96, no. 108, cat. 42, illustrated 
 

Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani, Catalogo Generale, Disegni 1906-1920 con i disegni provenienti dalla collezione Paul Alexandre (1906-1914), Milan, 1994, no. 824, illustrated p. 362

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, professionally taped along the verso at all four edges to a card mount. The left edge of the sheet is perforated. There is a repaired 1 cm tear towards the centre of the bottom edge, and an artist's pinhole in each corner and at the centre of the upper edge and a very faint mark in the lower left corner. A few handling marks are visible in the lower part of the sheet and towards the left edge in the centre. Apart from a few tiny spots of foxing, some of them retouched, mostly towards the upper-left corner, this work is in good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

FIG.I, Amedeo Modigliani, Cariatide, oil on canvas, 1911-13, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagoya, comp image ID: 026D05002  (already on London server)

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 Delta, he hired a pavillion, 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 states 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 (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., 1993-96, p. 15).

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 (fig. 1). Modigliani's caryatids, with their highly stylized, 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.