1917
See also : Top 10 Painting Italy Modigliani Eastern Europe Northern Europe Austria II The Woman Nude
Nudes by MODIGLIANI
1
1917 Nu couché sur le Côté
2018 SOLD for $ 157M by Sotheby's
Amedeo Modigliani stopped practicing sculpture around 1914. He paints portraits of Montparnasse artists with their heads deformed by cubism. In 1916 Zborowski takes Amedeo's career in his hands, adding his many friends to the list of models.
Modigliani was a prolific draftsman. He had learned during his artistic training to draw quickly. Close to the conceptions of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where he will soon meet Jeanne, he knows how to carry out speedy studies of female nudes in poses where the natural prevails over the conventional.
Zbo organizes paintings of nudes by Modi. He chooses pretty women whom he leads into an apartment-workshop where he has installed Modigliani. The artist is paid 15 francs a day and the model 5 francs for the session.
The rest is easy to imagine. The woman has won her 5 francs and is in a hurry to leave. The artist has little time. His painting is based on a drawing that brings to his best images a great spontaneity. The bare skin partitioned by the lines is painted in a warm color. The woman is lying or sitting on the bed, very simply, without decoration and without narrative effect.
A Nu couché sur le côté, oil on canvas 90 x 147 cm painted in 1917, was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 14, lot 18. The press release announces an estimate in excess of $ 150M. It is the largest painting in this series and the only reclining nude by Modigliani to be displayed in all the extent of her arms and legs.
The attitude is not very erotic. The woman is seen from behind. The head turned for looking at the artist and the firmly sealed mouth reveal some impatience.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold a 60 x 92 cm Nudo Rosso for $ 170M including premium. This nude reclining on her back dated 1917-1918 seems indeed later by its softer line, an even warmer color and also a friendly attitude of this model who exhibits all her charms in full front.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Modigliani was a prolific draftsman. He had learned during his artistic training to draw quickly. Close to the conceptions of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière where he will soon meet Jeanne, he knows how to carry out speedy studies of female nudes in poses where the natural prevails over the conventional.
Zbo organizes paintings of nudes by Modi. He chooses pretty women whom he leads into an apartment-workshop where he has installed Modigliani. The artist is paid 15 francs a day and the model 5 francs for the session.
The rest is easy to imagine. The woman has won her 5 francs and is in a hurry to leave. The artist has little time. His painting is based on a drawing that brings to his best images a great spontaneity. The bare skin partitioned by the lines is painted in a warm color. The woman is lying or sitting on the bed, very simply, without decoration and without narrative effect.
A Nu couché sur le côté, oil on canvas 90 x 147 cm painted in 1917, was sold for $ 27M including premium by Christie's on November 4, 2003. It will be sold by Sotheby's in New York on May 14, lot 18. The press release announces an estimate in excess of $ 150M. It is the largest painting in this series and the only reclining nude by Modigliani to be displayed in all the extent of her arms and legs.
The attitude is not very erotic. The woman is seen from behind. The head turned for looking at the artist and the firmly sealed mouth reveal some impatience.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold a 60 x 92 cm Nudo Rosso for $ 170M including premium. This nude reclining on her back dated 1917-1918 seems indeed later by its softer line, an even warmer color and also a friendly attitude of this model who exhibits all her charms in full front.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
2
1917 La Belle Romaine
2010 SOLD 69 M$ including premium
In 1917, having abandoned the sculpture, Modigliani focuses on the painting of the nude to express his vision of the ideal woman. Sometimes the model is standing or lying, but the woman sitting naked on a couch, known as La Belle Romaine, is undoubtedly one of the best.
This oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm, shows a woman happy to be watched, confident, intimate. The painter is quite successful, with a purity of line and a warm tone of flesh which is the top of his art.
Paris was quite prudish at that time, having probably already forgotten the friend women of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the exhibition of Modigliani's nudes at the Galerie Berthe Weill was forbidden for indecency at its opening. Our painting was perhaps one of them. Modigliani, a true great artist, had not deigned considering the academic decorum.
On 20 November 1987, the Parisian art market suddenly started to rise with the Georges Renand collection. La Belle Romaine was sold for FF 41M while another Modigliani, a Woman with Black Tie, was sold for FF 34M.
La Belle Romaine was sold twice by Sotheby's, for $ 16.8M on November 11, 1999 and for $ 69M on November 2, 2010. The image is shared by Wikimedia :
This oil on canvas, 100 x 65 cm, shows a woman happy to be watched, confident, intimate. The painter is quite successful, with a purity of line and a warm tone of flesh which is the top of his art.
Paris was quite prudish at that time, having probably already forgotten the friend women of Toulouse-Lautrec, and the exhibition of Modigliani's nudes at the Galerie Berthe Weill was forbidden for indecency at its opening. Our painting was perhaps one of them. Modigliani, a true great artist, had not deigned considering the academic decorum.
On 20 November 1987, the Parisian art market suddenly started to rise with the Georges Renand collection. La Belle Romaine was sold for FF 41M while another Modigliani, a Woman with Black Tie, was sold for FF 34M.
La Belle Romaine was sold twice by Sotheby's, for $ 16.8M on November 11, 1999 and for $ 69M on November 2, 2010. The image is shared by Wikimedia :
3
1917-1918 Nudo Rosso
2015 SOLD for $ 170M by Christie's
The still young artist endeavors to show the perfect woman while going beyond his own life plagued by tuberculosis and alcohol. Around 1911, the heads carved by Modigliani transcend all artistic styles.
In 1917, he found that ideal in the nude. He has no money but that does not mind. His small workshop contains two chairs, a sofa and a bottle of cognac. He is alone with a girl paid by his dealer. Zborowski had a good perception : the girls are pretty. Around them is war. The time is not conducive to shameless exhibits. Modigliani's nudes are a scandal.
Amedeo is a nice guy. He establishes empathy with those anonymous visitors for a day. He expresses tenderness and intimacy better than any other artist. He obtained this effect by a subtle color work. Pink is not warm enough to express the skin: the artist creates rich colors tending to reddish or apricot.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 170M a Nudo Rosso, oil on canvas 60 x 92 cm painted in 1917 or 1918, lot 8A. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
This reclining nude is a masterpiece of harmony. The voluptuous curves emphasizes the confidence of the model with her back slightly arched above the couch and her outstretched arms. Eyes without pupils are monochrome, enabling the viewer to better capture the quiet waiting of her gaze. The wild locks on the forehead indicate that this ideal woman is a character from real life and not a model prepared for art.
In 1917, he found that ideal in the nude. He has no money but that does not mind. His small workshop contains two chairs, a sofa and a bottle of cognac. He is alone with a girl paid by his dealer. Zborowski had a good perception : the girls are pretty. Around them is war. The time is not conducive to shameless exhibits. Modigliani's nudes are a scandal.
Amedeo is a nice guy. He establishes empathy with those anonymous visitors for a day. He expresses tenderness and intimacy better than any other artist. He obtained this effect by a subtle color work. Pink is not warm enough to express the skin: the artist creates rich colors tending to reddish or apricot.
On November 9, 2015, Christie's sold for $ 170M a Nudo Rosso, oil on canvas 60 x 92 cm painted in 1917 or 1918, lot 8A. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
This reclining nude is a masterpiece of harmony. The voluptuous curves emphasizes the confidence of the model with her back slightly arched above the couch and her outstretched arms. Eyes without pupils are monochrome, enabling the viewer to better capture the quiet waiting of her gaze. The wild locks on the forehead indicate that this ideal woman is a character from real life and not a model prepared for art.
1917 Brancusi at the Genesis of Art
2011 SOLD 14.9 M$ including premium
Brancusi, like many others, seeks the meaning and origin of world and life. In 1913, inspired by African art, he makes a wooden sculpture titled "le premier pas" (the first step). A baby makes his debut in the active life by trying to walk.
It is amusing to note that the great creative act of the metaphysical work of Brancusi is destructive. He breaks his wooden statue, keeping only the head. This new piece is ovoid, which is the perfect shape to symbolize the creation. Neither hair nor ears, nor neck.
With just the outline of an eye, of the nose and of the mouth, the egg becomes the head of a wailing baby, slightly larger than life, 26 cm long. It is entitled "le premier cri" and edited in 1917.
The copy for sale at Christie's in New York on November 1 is a polished bronze, with a high reflective effect. For such an outstanding work, the estimate, $ 8M, is conservative.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This bronze of a seminal sculpture by Brancusi was of course more outstanding than its estimate. It was sold $ 14.9 million including premium.
It is amusing to note that the great creative act of the metaphysical work of Brancusi is destructive. He breaks his wooden statue, keeping only the head. This new piece is ovoid, which is the perfect shape to symbolize the creation. Neither hair nor ears, nor neck.
With just the outline of an eye, of the nose and of the mouth, the egg becomes the head of a wailing baby, slightly larger than life, 26 cm long. It is entitled "le premier cri" and edited in 1917.
The copy for sale at Christie's in New York on November 1 is a polished bronze, with a high reflective effect. For such an outstanding work, the estimate, $ 8M, is conservative.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This bronze of a seminal sculpture by Brancusi was of course more outstanding than its estimate. It was sold $ 14.9 million including premium.
1914-1917 Iris Mauves by Monet
2015 SOLD for £ 10.8M by Christie's
After several difficult years, Monet had a new creative fervor in 1914. He starts his large decorative project envisioned a few years earlier and which will eventually reconstruct in a showroom the atmosphere of his garden under the title Grandes Décorations.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
He executes in a few years 250 oil paintings which are variations preparing this theme. He does not date these paintings, most of which remained unknown until his death. Yet they are highly innovative.
The mural purpose leads the artist to experiment with very large dimensions. Beyond about 200 Nymphéas included in this group, he explores new themes including the irises that grow at the edge of his pond.
On June 23 in London, Christie's sells Iris mauves, oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm painted between 1914 and 1917, lot 12 estimated £ 6M.
The tall and narrow format is unusual but perfectly suited to this portrait of wild flowers that anticipates O'Keeffe. The theme is also the pretext for a superb study of colors with these mauve flowers rising from green grass to be displayed over a background that gradually turns from blue to pink.
From Monet to Miró: highlights from Christie's Impressionist & Modern sale http://t.co/77dgF9K6u7 pic.twitter.com/HYYHwl3cHC
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) June 3, 2015
1917 The Marvelous Gates of Rodin
2010 SOLD 11.8 M$ including premium
Auguste Rodin is 40 years old in 1880. His genius is already recognized, since it is a French public institution which orders the production of a masterpiece: la Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell).
The artist imagines a monumental bronze door 6 feet tall, with several registers as the famous doors of the Baptistery of Florence. This project was the thread throughout his work, and his most oustanding sculptures have been conceived according to their position in this group.
The desire for a collector to have a bronze cast in Rodin's lifetime and in the size of the original clay model is easy to understand: it is a bit like having a real part of the prestigious door.
Two of the best known figures have gone up for auction in 2009.
On 3 November, Christie's sold $ 6.3 million including premium an early cast of le Baiser (the Kiss), 87 cm high, made between 1887 and 1901.
On 17 June in Paris (Hôtel Drouot), Mathias sold € 3.1 million including premium le Penseur (the Thinker), 71 cm high, cast by Rudier in 1917 a few months before the death of Rodin. This copy is characterized by a beautiful brown-green patina. After the sale, it crossed the Atlantic: it is estimated $ 4 million in the sale of Sotheby's in New York on May 5.
Le Penseur had been in a continuous improvement during the 37 last years of Rodin's life. The last version is the plaster of 1917, of which 3 bronze copies were cast. The Kiss had been removed from the Gates before this last version. No kiss in Hell !!! The Thinker is at the place originally intended for a figure of Dante which was never made.
POST SALE COMMENT
Now it looks obvious. The Thinker (le Penseur) had not reached its true price in Paris last year. The fact of crossing the Atlantic led it to $ 11.8 million including premium.
The artist imagines a monumental bronze door 6 feet tall, with several registers as the famous doors of the Baptistery of Florence. This project was the thread throughout his work, and his most oustanding sculptures have been conceived according to their position in this group.
The desire for a collector to have a bronze cast in Rodin's lifetime and in the size of the original clay model is easy to understand: it is a bit like having a real part of the prestigious door.
Two of the best known figures have gone up for auction in 2009.
On 3 November, Christie's sold $ 6.3 million including premium an early cast of le Baiser (the Kiss), 87 cm high, made between 1887 and 1901.
On 17 June in Paris (Hôtel Drouot), Mathias sold € 3.1 million including premium le Penseur (the Thinker), 71 cm high, cast by Rudier in 1917 a few months before the death of Rodin. This copy is characterized by a beautiful brown-green patina. After the sale, it crossed the Atlantic: it is estimated $ 4 million in the sale of Sotheby's in New York on May 5.
Le Penseur had been in a continuous improvement during the 37 last years of Rodin's life. The last version is the plaster of 1917, of which 3 bronze copies were cast. The Kiss had been removed from the Gates before this last version. No kiss in Hell !!! The Thinker is at the place originally intended for a figure of Dante which was never made.
POST SALE COMMENT
Now it looks obvious. The Thinker (le Penseur) had not reached its true price in Paris last year. The fact of crossing the Atlantic led it to $ 11.8 million including premium.
1917-1918 Les Deux Filles by Modigliani
2015 SOLD for £ 7.6M by Christie's
Amedeo Modigliani, as Francis Bacon later, is an empathetic portrait artist who feels the need to understand his sitters. On February 4 in London, Christie's sells Les deux filles, a double portrait of children which is very rare and perhaps unique of that theme in the art of Amedeo.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
This oil on canvas 100 x 65 cm is estimated £ 6M, lot 15. It was sold for £ 6.5 million including premium by Christie's on 4 February 2009 over a lower estimate of £ 3.5 million, at the time of the crisis of the art market.
This artwork whose first owner was Zborowski was painted in 1917 or 1918, while experts are now preferring the latter date.
The end of 1917 was rough, with the scandal of the public exhibition of the nudes at the Berthe Weill gallery. In the following year, his long stay in Nice is organized by Zborowski. Far from the war, Amedeo is hoping to recover his health but he has also lost the contact with the professional models who had provided the bulk of his art.
These two girls who remain unidentified are a study of childhood, reinforcing the idea that the painting could have been done during the pregnancy of Jeanne who gave birth to their daughter on 29 November 1918. The serious brunette in careful hair style will soon emerge from childhood. She protects the younger blonde whose slightly deformed face assesses that Amedeo was attentive to the solutions of cubism.
1917 Antibes by Signac
2018 SOLD for $ 8.2 including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1917 Indische Tänzerin by Nolde
2017 SOLD for $ 5.3M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1917 Pierrot by Picasso
2021 SOLD for $ 4.4M by Sotheby's
Picasso was a skilled draughtsman, able to display an intense empathy in his portraits.
The life of circus performers and their backstage was a continuous subject for him. During the période bleue, they are miserable despite their entertaining job. In the next phases they remain a support for questioning the meaning of life.
The performer of the pantomime could be Harlequin or Pierrot, both characters from the Commedia dell'Arte. Apparently that does not matter for Pablo in quest of the human being behind the mask or the make up. His clown is a mixing of both for an allegory of the human condition.
The line is much detailed and ready for print as when he prepared the terrible Repas Frugal in 1904. A similar drawing style is used in sketches that prepare for paintings.
Pierrot is a larger than life bust portrait in brush and ink on paper laid down on board 62 x 49 cm executed in Montrouge in 1917 after a travel to Naples with Diaghilev, Massine, Stravinsky and Cocteau. It was sold for $ 4.4M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Sotheby's on October 23, 2021, lot 10.
The highly realistic head is straight, below the conical clown's hat. Gaze and mouth display a poignant no-nonsense attitude in a wait. The white ruff is another attribute of his job. The hollows and bumps in the face are beautifully rendered by the pattern of ink strokes.
This drawing was possibly made in the preparation of an oil on canvas such as a 1918 seated Pierrot 93 x 72 cm now in the permanent collection of the MoMA.
The life of circus performers and their backstage was a continuous subject for him. During the période bleue, they are miserable despite their entertaining job. In the next phases they remain a support for questioning the meaning of life.
The performer of the pantomime could be Harlequin or Pierrot, both characters from the Commedia dell'Arte. Apparently that does not matter for Pablo in quest of the human being behind the mask or the make up. His clown is a mixing of both for an allegory of the human condition.
The line is much detailed and ready for print as when he prepared the terrible Repas Frugal in 1904. A similar drawing style is used in sketches that prepare for paintings.
Pierrot is a larger than life bust portrait in brush and ink on paper laid down on board 62 x 49 cm executed in Montrouge in 1917 after a travel to Naples with Diaghilev, Massine, Stravinsky and Cocteau. It was sold for $ 4.4M from a lower estimate of $ 2.5M by Sotheby's on October 23, 2021, lot 10.
The highly realistic head is straight, below the conical clown's hat. Gaze and mouth display a poignant no-nonsense attitude in a wait. The white ruff is another attribute of his job. The hollows and bumps in the face are beautifully rendered by the pattern of ink strokes.
This drawing was possibly made in the preparation of an oil on canvas such as a 1918 seated Pierrot 93 x 72 cm now in the permanent collection of the MoMA.
1917 Louise by Modigliani
2001 SOLD for $ 4.1M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg
Portrait de Louise, oil on canvas 55 x 44 cm painted by Modigliani in 1917 for Zborowski, was sold for $ 4.1M by Phillips, de Pury and Luxembourg on May 7, 2001 and passed at Sotheby's on November 4, 2008.
It is an early example of the mannerist style of his female portraits , painted in the year when he met Jeanne : stylized facial features, gentle curve of the bust, elongated neck and face with vacant almond-shaped eyes providing an enigmatic mood.
Such a portrait inspired by Botticelli displays a psychological interest of the artist for his sitter Louise who is not otherwise identified.
It is an early example of the mannerist style of his female portraits , painted in the year when he met Jeanne : stylized facial features, gentle curve of the bust, elongated neck and face with vacant almond-shaped eyes providing an enigmatic mood.
Such a portrait inspired by Botticelli displays a psychological interest of the artist for his sitter Louise who is not otherwise identified.
1917 Crouching Female Nude by Schiele
2021 SOLD for $ 4M by Sotheby's
1916-1917 The Striking Colors of Bitter Cold
2015 SOLD for $ 3.66M CAD including premium
Born in Ontario to a family of wealthy industrialists, Lawren Stewart Harris did not need his art for earning his life.
This amateur who took care of organizing the Toronto arts community painted at first some sceneries of streets and of logging. His art that might appear to be basically Canadian was however triggered by his discovery of Scandinavian art and especially of paintings by Gustaf Fjaestad at an exhibition in Buffalo in 1913.
Harris worked in his studio at that time. He imagines the pure colors of snowy landscapes in cold weather. On November 26 in Toronto, Heffel sells a Winter landscape, lot 120 estimated CAD 1.2 million. Here is the link to the auction house's website.
This oil on canvas of large size for this artist, 121 x 127 cm, was painted in 1916 or 1917 at a time when Tom Thomson was interested in similar themes. The picture is divided into well-structured sections of homogeneous texture that contrast sharply with each other from the heavy white snow of ground and of fir branches up to the bright blue of the sea (or lake) through the tissues of forests and cliffs.
This creative period gives Harris the urge to explore by himself the far north in winter. From 1918 he organizes auto trips of his group. The light on Lake Superior is even more blinding than it was in his imagination. His increasingly purified style becomes the most dramatic expression of the chilling landscapes of Canada.
This amateur who took care of organizing the Toronto arts community painted at first some sceneries of streets and of logging. His art that might appear to be basically Canadian was however triggered by his discovery of Scandinavian art and especially of paintings by Gustaf Fjaestad at an exhibition in Buffalo in 1913.
Harris worked in his studio at that time. He imagines the pure colors of snowy landscapes in cold weather. On November 26 in Toronto, Heffel sells a Winter landscape, lot 120 estimated CAD 1.2 million. Here is the link to the auction house's website.
This oil on canvas of large size for this artist, 121 x 127 cm, was painted in 1916 or 1917 at a time when Tom Thomson was interested in similar themes. The picture is divided into well-structured sections of homogeneous texture that contrast sharply with each other from the heavy white snow of ground and of fir branches up to the bright blue of the sea (or lake) through the tissues of forests and cliffs.
This creative period gives Harris the urge to explore by himself the far north in winter. From 1918 he organizes auto trips of his group. The light on Lake Superior is even more blinding than it was in his imagination. His increasingly purified style becomes the most dramatic expression of the chilling landscapes of Canada.
