Amedeo Modigliani
1884-1920
In 1895, whilst still at school, Modigliani suffered a severe attack of pleurisy, a forerunner of tuberculosis which brought his brief life to a close. After studying painting with Guglielmo Micheli, a late follower of the plein air school, and then briefly at Florence and Venice, he made his way to Paris in 1906 and passed the rest of his life there. Here he immersed himself in the café night life of the artistic quarter, joining in the gatherings of artists at the Bateau-Lavoir and other studios but living apparently in conditions of extreme poverty. He made friends with Soutine, Kisling and other expatriate Expressionists of the French school. His painting The Cellist (1909) brought him some recognition when exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1910, but he exhibited little in his lifetime. Apart from this exhibition and seven sculptures shown at the Salon d'Automne in 1912, his only exhibition of note was in London, at Heal's, in 1919, organized by Sacheverell and Osbert Sitwell. Lacking other sources of income, he was supported by two patrons who bought most of his output: Dr. Paul Alexandre from 1908 until the outbreak of war in 1914 and the collector Leopold Zborowski (together with Paul Guillaume) from 1916 until his death. He met Brancusi c. 1909 and although documentation is lacking, it seems to have been due largely to his influence that Modigliani took a more active interest in sculpture.
Owing to the paucity of reliable documentation and the mass of legend that has accumulated representing Modigliani as the typical romantic genius, starving in a garret, the victim of drugs, alcohol and tuberculosis, but painting and carving obsessively, it is difficult to assess the man or his work oblectively. G. H. Hamilton has said: 'Modigliani's life was so spectacular a story of the self-destruction of a talent that for many years it prevented a just evaluation of his work.' The difficulty is enhanced by the individualistic, mannered and eclectic character of his work both in painting and sculpture. Despite his immersion in the artistic life of Paris during the first two decades of the century, his style had no more than a superficial connection with the artistic movements of his time. H. H. Arnasson goes so far as to say: 'Modigliani was not really an artist of the twentieth century, despite his connections with the School of Paris. He would have been at home in the Florence of Uccello and Botticelli.' But despite everything his position still stands assured as one of the outstanding original talents of his day.