1909／Oil on canvas
100.5 x 81.5 cm
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum –
Exhibition period：Saturday April 12～Sunday June 8, 2025
Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
SUMMARY
Born in Livorno, Italy, Modigliani went to Paris in January 1906 to execute paintings. In November of the following year, he was acquainted with a man who would be a model for this work—Dr. Paul Alexandre, physician and art lover. He was the first person who got interested in the work of Modigliani. Dr. Alexandre was a patron of Modigliani, encouraged this young painter, and continued to purchase his works until the doctor was forced to go to the First World War in 1914. The highly knowledgeable French art lover, Paul Alexandre, had close relationships with public institutions that had chances to introduce unknown artists to the general public, art dealers, and collectors, and supported Modigliani and his artistic activities in various aspects. In 1908, Modigliani began to frequently visit an artists’ colony founded by Dr. Alexandre and his brother Jean. In 1909, Modigliani painted three portraits of the doctor, of which this one was exquisitely painted and attained the highest degree of perfection. Like The Riding Habit (Private collection, New York) painted in the same year, it is a three-quarter portrait in which the model posed with his left hand placed on his hip. A series of the portraits of Dr. Alexandre, in a sense, evokes the tradition in Italian painting, dating back to the Renaissance, of “patrons having their portraits painted in return for their financial support.” Around the same time that he painted this work, Modigliani formed a friendship with the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși, and for several years thereafter, he devoted himself to sculpture. It didn’t mean, however, that he gave up painting, and consequently led to the development of the so-called “Modigliani style” with its elongated and deformed figures from 1914 onward. This work is an exceptional painting in his early career that is imbued with the fresh sense of the young Modigliani.
ARTIST
Amedeo Modigliani
1884-1920
List of artworks by the same artist
INFORMATION
Saturday, April 12 - Sunday, June 8, 2025
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Friday, July 26 - Monday, September 23, 2024
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Shizuoka City Museum of Art (Shizuoka, Japan)
Saturday, September 17 - Sunday, November 20, 2022
400 Years of Western Paintings – Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum – Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design (Toyama, Japan)
Saturday, April 9 - Monday, July 18, 2022
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI Nakanoshima Museum of Art, Osaka (Osaka, Japan)
Saturday, October 23 - Sunday, December 26, 2021
The 400 Years of Western Painting: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts (Tochigi, Japan)
Friday, July 9 - Sunday, August 29, 2021
400 Years of European Paintings: Masterpieces From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art (Okayama, Japan)
Tuesday, December 15 - Sunday, January 31, 2021
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum (Okinawa, Japan)
Saturday, September 12 - Tuesday, November 3, 2020
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum (Miyazaki, Japan)
Wednesday, July 22 - Sunday, September 6, 2020
400 Years of Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Oita Prefectural Art Museum (Oita, Japan)
Thursday, February 20 - Sunday, April 12, 2020
How to Read Western Paintings: Masterpieces from Tokyo Fuji Art Museum The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki (Ibaraki, Japan)
Saturday, November 2 - Sunday, December 22, 2019
“Rendez-vous” through Arts―East Meets West― Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi (Osaka, Japan)
Tuesday, September 3 - Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Masterpieces of European Paintings From Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Yamaguchi Prefectural Art Museum (Yamaguchi, Japan)
Saturday, January 12 - Saturday, May 4, 2019
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Shanghai PowerLong Museum (Shanghai, China)
Tuesday, October 23 - Sunday, December 23, 2018
500 Years of Western Paintings: Collection of Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Tsinghua University Art Museum (Beijing, China)
Saturday, April 29 - Sunday, June 25, 2017
The Collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum: East and West Encounters Niihama City Museum of Art (Ehime, Japan)
Friday, June 26 - Sunday, October 4, 2015
Modigliani: Legend of Montparnasse Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center (Seoul. South Korea)
Tuesday, August 12 - Sunday, October 5, 2008
Amedeo Modigliani Iwate Museum of Art (Iwate, Japan)
Saturday, April 5 - Sunday, June 1, 2008
Amedeo Modigliani: Retrospective Nagoya City Art Museum (Aichi, Japan)
Saturday, July 21 - Sunday, August 19, 2007
Paris est une fête: les années 1920 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (Kanazawa, Japan)
Saturday, March 31 - Sunday, May 6, 2007
Paris est une fête: les années 1920 Hiroshima Museum of Art (Hiroshima, Japan)
Friday, April 18 - Sunday, May 25, 2003
The Great Masters of Art Fukuoka Art Museum (Fukuoka, Japan)
Saturday, October 12 - Sunday, November 10, 2002
Invitation to Occidental Painting Arts: from Barbizon School to Contemporary Art Abashiri Museum of Art (Hokkaido, Japan)
Saturday, September 7 - Sunday, September 29, 2002
Four Centuries of Occidental Paintings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection SOGO Museum of Art (Kanagawa, Japan)
Saturday, July 20 - Sunday, September 1, 2002
The Great Masters of Art Hida Takayama Museum of Art (Gifu, Japan)
Thursday, May 16 - Sunday, June 23, 2002
Four Centuries of Occidental Paintings from the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum Collection Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art (Kumamoto, Japan)
Sunday, October 1 - Sunday, December 3, 2000
Masterpieces of Western Paintings from the Renaissance to the 20th Century National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (Taipei, Taiwan)
Friday, October 16 - Thursday, November 5, 1992
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting: The Paintings in 20th Century from the Renaissance to Impressionism China Art Gallery (Beijing, China)
Saturday, November 3 - Sunday, December 2, 1990
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting Ho-Am Art Museum (Yongin-gun, Kyunggi-do, South Korea)
Saturday, September 22 - Sunday, October 21, 1990
Masterpieces of European Oil Painting Ho-Am Gallery (Seoul, South Korea)
Exhibited : Paris, Salon des Indépendants, 1909 Bruxelles, Palais des Baux-Arts de Bruselles, no.90 Paris, Galerie Carpentier, Cent Tableaux de Modigliani (titled Portrais inachevé), 1958, no.5 (illustrated)
Literature: Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani, p.3 of the Catalogue présumé J. Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné, no.25, p.166 (illustrated) A. Pfannstiel, Moddigliani et son œuvre, Paris, 1956, catalogue raisonné, no.13, p.60 (illustrated) C. Roy, Modigliani, Geneva, 1985, p.33 (illustrated) F. Cachin & A. Ceroni, Tout l’œuvre peint de Modigliani, Paris, 1972, p.88 (illustrated color plate II) Ambrogio Ceroni, I Dipinti de Modigliani, Milan, 1970, p.89, no.15, p.88 (illustrated)
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