Modigliani –
more than just the nudes!
Even though I
am past counting candles on a birthday cake, I am not past “insisting” on an
enjoyable day out to celebrate another year. I was sure the Modigliani
exhibition would be an appropriate treat and I was not disappointed!
Modigliani is a
complex character. Born in Italy to a Jewish family, he spent most of his
working career in Paris, including the years of WW1. This and a prolonged childhood
illness greatly influenced his art. At times during his life Modigliani’s art
was scorned as unsophisticated and simplistic. Yet when you enter the first
room of this exhibition, that opinion is completely overturned. The colour
palette is both sensual and absorbing, the images distinctive and engaging.
Most people are
familiar with the distinctive wide eyed, narrow - faced nudes that Modigliani
perfected during his short turbulent lifetime, (he died aged 36).
However, like
many artists, Modigliani went through various periods and changes. The work I was
least expecting was a room of his hypnotic sculpture heads. Whilst living in Paris, Modigliani
had an intense two-year period where he focused almost exclusively on sculpture
(1911 – 1913). The figures are both beautiful and powerful, many resembling Caryatids
(the classic female figure), which reputedly had a “religious” like meaning to
Modigliani. African art played a huge influence on Modigliani and his fellow
Paris contemporaries, such as Gaugin, Matisse and Picasso. Sculpture had been an
early passion of his and it is unclear why he so abruptly abandoned this
medium. Poor health is the most likely explanation plus a growing confidence in
his 2D work.
By the time of
his premature death, Modigliani was a confident portrait painter. However, like
so many other renowned artists of the C20th he too is mostly preoccupied in
capturing the “essence” of the person rather than tight representation or likeness
of character. Modigliani sits securely in an extensive line of artists who have
been interested in non-European sources, (e.g. African) that has inevitably extended
and developed the western canon of art
At the end of
this exhibition I felt privileged and grateful to have seen such an extended array
of Modigliani’s work. It was both exciting and thought provoking particularly as
Modigliani died so tragically. To leave such a legacy is awe inspiring and
moving.
The exhibition continues
until April 2nd, so you still have time to enjoy this “must see” exhibition at Tate
Modern.
Melinda
Berkovitz
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