Understanding Art: The Sculpture of Modigliani
Recently, My spouse and i had to locate a house warming present for some friends but we were utterly out of ideas. For a similar event they had given me with a quaich, a Scottish symbol of everlasting friendship, and so i believed I needed to get something more than just a greeting card.
Our friends are an unique couple you simply can't pigeonhole. They're clever, amusing and true individuals and because they were moving in to a brand new house, I finally decided a showy subject would be appropriate, but I was at a loss as to what to choose? My own, personal style runs to things from the ancient world, like {Roman art} and Greek sculpture. I spent days trying to find something symbolic, a present that has a story, but Aphrodite didn't seem appropriate, an Alexander bust was something I knew they already had and Hippocrates would have been perfect for a physician, but not for an IT expert married to a lawyer. What I needed was something the same but also, like my friends, very different.
My eventual decision was a Modigliani sculpture, an elongated female head sculpture very different from the traditional figurines I had considered and yet exactly the same. Time-honored but primitive at the same time Modigliani sculptures is plainly influenced by African Masks and Polynesian statues, clean and rounded whilst prolonged and angular, it is the contradiction that helps make the sculpture so wonderful.
Modigliani's tale is a tragic one. Born in 1884, his genius for art was clear from his childhood, but his life was dominated by tuberculosis. His mother made sure he had the best education, and he was very highly regarded by his art tutor, though he designed his own personal style that has much more in keeping with the angular Art Deco movement yet to come than the curvaceous Art Nouveau still fashionable. Most of all, it is still a style of it's own, quite individual.
Similar to countless now renowned artists Modigliani was remarkably unknown during own life. He produced a massive amount of work, sometimes up to one hundred paintings per day, but in many cases he presented these to close friends or girlfriends that did not keep them. It seems as if he knew his life would be short, and maybe as a result of that, he took to drugs and alcohol, to the point where some stated his unique style had been credited entirely to hashish, even though this was obviously not true. He was a follower of Nietzsche and Baudelaire and came to the realization authentic originality involved dysfunction and defiance. At some point in his career he demolished a lot of his previous works declaring them inferior.
As time went by his wellness grew worse. He was rejected for military service in the First World War and continued to reside in Paris, not knowing if the next payment of his allowance might arrive. He was good looking and charming and women liked him, but although he was able to showcase a few paintings in the course of his life, he never produced any money from them.
Modigliani died quite penniless, from meningitis, his sheets stained with oil from a sardine can, the only thing he had still left to eat. As always, there was a female involved. Much younger than Modigliani and on the day he perished almost 9 months pregnant with their 2nd child. After his passing her family members took her home and the lady stepped backwards out of a window, killing herself and the unborn child.
The tales regarding Modigliani's life are brimming with contradiction. Some have tried to imply that the woman, Jeanne Hebuterne had been simply another passing fancy for Modigliani, however their daughter's analysis showed she had been an artist in her own right. Her statues were exhibited for the very first time in an exhibition in 2000.
As for the Modigliani art we settled on, the sculpture is elongated and narrow depiction of a woman's head that is both striking and soft. Unfortunately we cannot find out who she is meant to be; there isn't any tale unless we make one. Virtually no particular type of decor is required. The Modigliani bust would look great anywhere you want it.
Personally, part of the appeal of this object as a gift is the likeness between the artist and my friends. Equally witty, intelligent and interesting, a rebel and an individual. There the commonalities between them end.
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