Art Essay, Research Paper

Amedeo Modigliani (1884 ? 1920)

?Born in Leghorn in Italy.

?Essentially a painter but in 1906 he began to experiment with sculpture.

?He worked in Paris for the nest 14 years

?Had tuberculosis.

?Took drugs and alcohol

?Not really an artist of the 20th Century

?He utilised post-impressionist delimitation of picture space and cubist restriction of colour.

?He constructed portraits, nude, children studies, and sculptures of foreign people?s heads.

?The Chellist (as shown right) was done in 1909 and got his some recognition.

?He then got very passionate with his sculpturing with expressed contours.

?Was one of the master portraitists of 20th Century paintings.

?Bride and Groom (as shown left) was painted in 1915-1916 portrays an unidentified couple. It seems like a French view of the English.

?Two subjects seem arrogant and oblivious, with the primitivist technique of blank eyes and profile nose in full face contributing to the characterization.

?It is better to examine the well known sitters than the unknown, such as Chaim Soutine (as shown left) who was a Russian peasant who?s broad, flat nose, thick lips and Slavic cheekbones.

?He would also draw his friends and acquaintances and other people that he would not have to pay, but these were mainly unknown people.

? The same was true on his nude paintings but sometimes he would rely heavily on professional models.

?His depictions of the nude or partially draped female are among the most beautiful and sensuous in the whole of art.

?The figure is normally set within a narrow depth of coloured space. Modigliani is fond of the contrast of draped white sheets against a Venetian red.

?The figure is outlined with a flowing but precise line; the full and sensuous volumes are modelled with almost imperceptible gradations of flesh tones. The torso is often extremely elongated, but there is no visual sense of grotesque distortion.