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The Jewish Museum is open 11 am - 8 pm. Please review visitor policies.
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Amedeo Modigliani, Seated Female Nude, possibly Anna Akhmatova, c. 1911. Black crayon on paper. 16⅞ x 10⅜ in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Head, c. 1911. Black crayon on paper. 16⅞ x 10⅜ in. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen. Gift of Blaise Alexandre, 2001
Amedeo Modigliani, Head of a Woman, 1910-11. Limestone, 25⅝ x 7½ x 9¾ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Chester Dale Collection
Amedeo Modigliani, Kneeling Caryatid, 1911-12. Black crayon on paper. 16⅞ x 10⅜ in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Hermaphrodite Caryatid, 1911-12. Black crayon on paper, 16⅞ x 10 in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Alexandre, c. 1909. China ink on paper. 10⅝ x 8¼ in. Private collection, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Male Caryatid, 1911-12. Black crayon on paper, 13¼ x 10⅜ in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Study for “The Amazon,” 1909. Black crayon on paper. 12⅛ x 9⅛ in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of a Woman Taking Part in a Spiritualist Séance, c. 1906. Black crayon, China ink, and watercolor on paper, 22¼ x 14⅝ in. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen. Gift of Blaise Alexandre, 2001
Amedeo Modigliani, Female Nude with a Lighted Candle and Chandeliers, inspired by Anna Akhmatova, c. 1911. Black crayon on paper. 16⅞ x 10⅜ in. (42.9 × 26.4 cm). Private collection, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Nude with a Hat, 1908. Oil on canvas. 31⅞ x 21¼ in. (81 × 54 cm). Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum, University of Haifa, Israel. Courtesy of the Hecht Museum, University of Haifa, Israel
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Amedeo Modigliani, The Jewess, 1908. Oil on canvas. 21⅝ x 18⅛ in. (54.9 × 46 cm). Laure Denier Collection, Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London
Amedeo Modigliani, Unfinished Portrait of Paul Alexandre, 1913. Oil on canvas. 31½ x 25¾ in. Private collection on long-term loan to the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Roger Dutilleul, 1919. Oil on canvas. 39½ x 25½ in. (100.4 x 64.7 cm). Collection of Bruce and Robbi Toll
Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne with Yellow Sweater, 1918-19. Oil on canvas. 39⅜ x 25½ in. (100 x 64.7 cm). Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, By gift 37.533. Image provided by Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation / Art Resource, New York
Amedeo Modigliani, Lunia Czechowska, 1919. Oil on canvas. 31½ x 20½ in. Museu de Arte de São Paulo. Photograph by João Musa
Amedeo Modigliani, Seated Female Nude, possibly Anna Akhmatova, c. 1911. Black crayon on paper. 16⅞ x 10⅜ in. Paul Alexandre Family, courtesy of Richard Nathanson, London. Image provided by Richard Nathanson, photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates, London
The Jewish Museum presents an exhibition of early drawings by Amedeo Modigliani—many of which are being shown for the first time in the United States. Acquired directly from the artist by Dr. Paul Alexandre, his close friend and first patron, these works illuminate Modigliani's heritage as an Italian Sephardic Jew as pivotal to understanding his artistic output.
Amedeo Modigliani, c. 1912, Image provided by PVDE / Bridgeman Images, New York
"Always speak out and keep forging ahead. The man who cannot find a new person within himself is not a man."
—Amedeo Modigliani
Modigliani Unmasked considers the celebrated artist Amedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884-1920) shortly after he arrived in Paris in 1906, when the city was still roiling with anti-Semitism after the long-running tumult of the Dreyfus Affair and the influx of foreign emigres. Modigliani’s Italian-Sephardic background helped forge a complex cultural identity that rested in part on the ability of Italian Jews historically to assimilate and embrace diversity. The exhibition puts a spotlight on Modigliani’s drawings, and shows that his art cannot be fully understood without acknowledging the ways the artist responded to the social realities that he confronted in the unprecedented artistic melting pot of Paris. The drawings from the Alexandre collection reveal the emerging artist himself, enmeshed in his own particular identity quandary, struggling to discover what portraiture might mean in a modern world of racial complexity.
The exhibition includes approximately 150 works, those from the Alexandre collection as well as a selection of Modigliani’s paintings, sculptures, and other drawings from collections around the world. Modigliani’s art will be complemented by work representative of the various multicultural influences—African, Greek, Egyptian, and Khmer—that inspired the young artist during this lesser-known early period.
Among the works featured are a mysterious, unfinished portrait of Dr. Alexandre, never seen before in the United States; impressions of the theater; life studies and female nudes, among them the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova; and drawings of caryatids and heads, which are telling of Modigliani’s sculptures, which he created over a five-year period from 1909 to 1914.
Modigliani Unmasked is organized by Mason Klein, Senior Curator, The Jewish Museum.The exhibition was designed by Galia Solomonoff and Talene Montgomery of SAS/Solomonoff Architecture Studio.
Modigliani Unmasked is made possible by The Jerome L. Greene Foundation.
Wall Text and Labels
Kids Gallery Guide
The audio guide is made possible by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
Installation view of the exhibition Modigliani Unmasked. September 15, 2017 – February 4, 2018. The Jewish Museum, NY. Photo by: Jason Mandella
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