Amedeo Modigliani in Bronze Shop

Amedeo Modigliani was an Italian artist, sculptor and painter, who was born on July 12, 1883 in Livorno and grew up in a family that was part of the Jewish bourgeoisie. At the age of eleven he contracted with pleurisy and at the age of sixteen he contracted with typhoid; this time typhoid was mostly a deadly ending disease. But the young Modigliani didn’t die. He recovered together with his mother in Naples in 1900/ 1901 and also visited Rome and Capri. After he was completely recovered, he quitted school and his father gave him the permission to dedicate his life to art.

Due to his wish to study art he went to Florence to attend the Art Academy, but in 1903 he decided to keep on studying in Venice, where he finally successfully graduated in 1905. The year 1906 guided him to Paris, France. Arrived in Paris, he attended the Académie Colarossi for more studying. Furthermore he took part at the Autumn-Salon in Paris that was minted by the artists of Fauvism. He became a part of the „Société des Artistes Indépendants“ whom offered the opportunity to him to exhibit his artwork in 1908. But none of his six pictures he exhibited received any attention.

But the day he got in contact with the wealthy bourgeoisie, because of the help of the young doctor Paul Alexandre, who was fascinated by the paintings of Modigliani, he got a first commission for a picture; in 1909 he painted his picture “The Amazon” as his first contract work.

During the years 1909 and 1910 the young painter got inspired by his next-door studio neighbour Constantin Brancusi (* February 19, 1876; † March 16, 1957) to do a little sculpting. Hereinafter Modigliani executed first busts and first caryatides. His next-door studio neighbour Brancusi showed him how to make first easy sculptures. This kind of easy sculptures inspired the artist Modigliani to create some heads of stone.

His sculpting work was of course influenced by his work as a painter; the languages of shapes of his pictures can also be found on his sculptures. At the end he was creating some sculptures characterized by a lightly detailed deformation structure. But as a painter he returned to his beloved subject of painting. Besides some very scandalous nude paintings and nude drawings the painter also painted some portrays of famous artists like Pablo Picasso (* October 25, 1881; † April 8, 1973) in 1915 and Jacques Lipchitz (*August 22, 1891; † May 16, 1973).

Even the painter and sculptor got supported by other artists as well a by art collectors, he never made a big breakthrough. In 1917 he had his first and only own exhibition at the Berthe Weill in Paris, France. This was the same year he met his future wife Jeanne Hébuterne (*April 6, 1898; † January 25, 1920), a young model and his sweetheart. She got pregnant in 1919 but never gave birth to the child. Because Modigliani died on January 24, 1920 in Paris she committed suicide.