Amedeo Modigliani

Paul Alexandre, Paris
Private Collection, Pavia
Galleria Galatea, Turin
Galleria Il Milione, Milan
Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner circa 1980s

Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy & London, Tate Gallery, Modigliani, 1963, no. 52
Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, Amedeo Modigliani 1884-1920, 1981, no. 113, illustrated in the catalogue 
Verona, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea & Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Modigliani à Montparnasse, 1988-89

Ambrogio Ceroni, Modigliani, Dessins, Sculptures, Milan, 1965, no. 104, illustrated n.p.
Joseph Lanthemann, Modigliani, 1884-1920, Catalogue raisonné, sa vie, son œuvre complet, son art, Barcelona, 1970, no. 538, illustrated p. 297 (dated 1911-12)
Osvaldo Patani, Modigliani, Disegni, Milan, 1992, no. 7, illustrated n.p.

Executed on cream wove paper, not laid down, t-hinged to the mount in two places at the upper edge. There is some wear to all four corners with some associated and sensitively executed restorations. The sheet is slightly time-stained. There is a small crease towards the lower centre, and a further small crease in the upper right quadrant. There are a few very faint spots of foxing in places. There is a tiny spot of what appears to be retouching in the lower right corner away from the composition. This work is in overall 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

‘He [Modigliani] was the last great Promethean hero. He certainly had a wonderful intelligence and openness of spirit. Besides painting portraits, he made pages of drawings; and that is what I always try to do. Draw, draw all the time; that is the secret’ (Alberto Giacometti, quoted in W. Schmalenbach, Modigliani, Munich, 1990, p. 193).

With a clarity of line that could only belong to Modigliani, this drawing hails from the period 1910-14, when the young artist set his resolve upon the task of sculpture. The few stone masterpieces that survive from this short period are rightly considered some of the purest expressions of Modigliani’s artistic intent and also amongst the most mythicised and powerful artworks of the entire twentieth century. Three themes abound: the head, the standing figure, and the caryatid. Whilst there are only about two dozen surviving sculptures, these are accompanied by numerous drawings, watercolours and gouaches, oil sketches – all on sculptural themes, and often directly related to specific projects, whether ever actually realised in stone or not.

Even though Modigliani only managed one kneeling caryatid in stone, it is the most interesting and complex of his three motifs, especially on paper. Under the pretext of carrying an invisible burden, the body is forced in specific directions; two arms perpendicular in their halves, a strong downwards core, legs buckling against the ground in support. And yet these positions are nothing but an attitude: there is no entablature here, only the upper edge of the picture, pushed against in an empty, weightless gesture. Every part of the body is clearly demarcated, and whilst it is certainly a harmonious arrangement, there is also a sense that Modigliani enjoys setting form off against form. Even the head exhibits this tendency in miniature, the almond shaped eyes, semi-circular eyebrows, a long straight rectangular nose – all modular components of a head, but each once individualised in shape and form.

Lamberto Vitali, writing in 1929, and one of the first to analyse Modigliani more specifically as a draughtsman, brilliantly captures the power of a Modigliani drawing, when he writes: ‘There are masters that have said everything and said it with painting alone, among them Caravaggio, el Greco, Velázquez, Chardin and Monet are the names that spring to mind. If every one of their paintings were to disappear, they would be no more names than 'X the Unknown' is a name. But think of Rembrandt, Watteau, Goya or Degas. One page or just one small sketch among the countless ones they left, would suffice to let posterity guess how great the rest of their work must have been. The future fortunes of Modigliani, whatever they may be, can very well be entrusted to one alone of his drawings: Modigliani the draughtsman, painter and sculptor’ (Lamberto Vitali, quoted in O. Patani, Modigliani, Disegni, Milan, 1976, pp. 23-24).