Nude with Necklace,
1917
A beautiful naked woman is put on show. The artist presents her
as if she were a precious object. She is the embodiment of
feminine enticement, and not even a hint of a scarf or sheet
conceals her. Only a necklace of fine pearls adorns her neck. She
has sunk into sleep and does not care who looks at or paints her.
No servant girl disturbs our observation of her. The artist
relishes the flawlessness of her body, the warm flesh tones, and
the perfect contours of her figure. In order better to accentuate
her womanliness, he brings his subject as close to the observer as
possible, choosing to forgo showing her all the way down to her
feet. Our meditative contemplation of the painting contrasts
sharply with the tremendous scandal which nudes like this
originally provoked.

Amedeo Modigliani: Nude with Necklace,
1917
In 1917, when Amedeo Modigliani created such
uncompromising images, the police felt provoked by the nudes to
such an extent that they forbade the artist from showing them in
public, resulting in the abrupt closure of the only solo show that
the artist was to hold in his life. Modigliani was notorious not
only as a synonym for scandal, but above all for his excessive use
of drugs and alcohol and his passionate involvements with women.
As an artist, Modigliani, a native Italian who emigrated to France,
stood between the poles of the traditional and the modern
reflected by those two countries. He hoped to measure his
knowledge of the Old Masters against modern styles, yet he failed
to find his proper place in Paris, the center of the avant-garde,
and came to ruin in the clash between the world of conservative
Salon painting of the fin de siècle and that of avant-garde
movements such as Cubism and Fauvism. Modigliani's goal was to
portray human beings. With only a few exceptions, his entire
oeuvre consists of images of people. The artist perfected his art
of the portrait in the period around 1916 when he created works
like the Portrait of Max Jacob, in which he assimilated elements
such as a cubistic fragmenting of forms as well as principles of
"primitive" sculpture. But Modigliani's style was soon
to change. The hard forms which often seemed to conflict with each
other developed into soft, flowing figurations. Under the
influence of the sun of southern France Modigliani created
lighter-toned portraits with elongated faces and almond-shaped
eyes. His nudes are among his most famous works, and yet they
account for no more than a tenth of his entire output - hardly
more than thirty works. Only a few nudes provoke through tense,
offensive aggressivity. For the most part the artist, in works
such as this one, celebrates the beauty of the female body and
bases his compositions on the work of famous precursors such as
Titian, Goya, and Ingres. Nude with Necklace also recalls the work
of the Old Masters; the outstretched body exudes the same relaxed
sense of inner peace which Giorgione had given his Sleeping Venus
of 1508. Modigliani was no champion of political programs or
manifestos. His thought was firmly grounded in late 19th-century
notions, and the novels of Gabriele d'Annunzio as well as the
verses of Dante Alighieri and Lautréamont were his constant
companions. And just that is the fascination of Modigliani's work:
the conflict between retrospective sentiment and a modern sense of
style which resulted in the last great contributions to the art of
the organically rendered human form. A. K.
Book: Icon of art : the 20 th century
Amedeo Modigiiani 1884 Amedeo Modigliani is born on July 12 in
Livorno
1898-1900 Studies painting under Guglielmo Micheh at the art
school in Livorno
1902 Studies at the Scuola Libera Nudo de l'Accademia di Belle
Arti in Florence 1903-05 Studies at the Istituto di Belle Arti in
Venice 1908 Moves to Paris; attends the Académie Colarossi
1908 Takes part in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris
1909 Makes the acquaintance of Juan Gris and Constantin
Brancusi; first sculptural works; returns to Italy
1910 Participates in the Salon des Indépendants in Paris
1912 Exhibition of sculptural works at the Salon d'Automne
1914 Meets the art dealer Paul Guillaume
1918 First solo exhibition, at the Galerie Berthe Weill in
Paris
1918-19 Sojourns in Nice and Cannes; returns to Paris with
Jeanne Hébuterne and their daughter
1920 Dies on January 24 in Paris; Jeanne Hébuterne commits
suicide a day later

Modigliani: The Melancholy Angel
by Marc Restilinni, Marc Restellini (Editor)
Hardcover: 428 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.49 x 11.32 x 9.74
Publisher: Skira; (January 2003)
ISBN: 8884912601