Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani’s portraits and nudes are some of the most popular images of the 20th century.  He is perhaps best known for simplification and abstraction in his approach to portraiture.   His paintings have garnered much admiration for the de-personalized depiction of the human face that is, at the same time, often imbued with a tenderness that seem to have struck a chord with viewers across space and time.   It was ironically, his foray into sculpture between the intervening years of 1909 to 1914 that helped him to arrive at a stylistic independence that took him further away from the artistic objectives of the avant-garde. 

The movie, loosely based on the life of Modigliani, focuses on his relationship of two years with his companion, Jeanne Hebuterne, who was just nineteen when they met at the Academie Colarossi.  The film perpetuated much of the “myths, legends and cliches” that have come to be associated with the bohemian artist who died at the young age of 35.  Despite its fictionalized account of Modigliani’s life, the film has succeeded in engaging the audience by providing a glimpse of a highly talented and passionate young artist who was determined to create an artistic path that would ultimately comprise of harmonious and beautiful forms rather than those that his contemporaries created in order to challenge the norm at the turn of the twentieth century.

The movie is available in the Art, Design and Media Library (ADM Library).
Call number: PS3553.H4367G525