Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in Paris. His portraits and nudes are known for elongated forms, simplified features, and expressive lines.

Paris School: An informal grouping of international artists who worked in Paris in the early twentieth century. Modigliani belonged to this cosmopolitan artistic milieu rather than a formal school.
Elongation (art): The deliberate stretching of a figure or form beyond natural proportions in visual art. Modigliani’s lengthened faces, necks, and bodies are his most recognizable formal device.
Portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne: A group of portraits Modigliani painted of Jeanne Hébuterne, his partner and an artist. Their repeated, intimate depictions show how he varied a familiar elongated face.
Jeanne Hébuterne: Jeanne Hébuterne (1898–1920) was a French painter and Modigliani’s partner. She was his frequent model and remained with him through his final years.
Livorno: Livorno is an Italian port city in Tuscany and Modigliani’s birthplace. Its Jewish community and artistic setting formed part of his early life.
Modern art: Art that breaks with academic traditions and explores new forms, materials, and ideas, especially from the late nineteenth century onward. His stylized figures helped shape modern portraiture.
Contour line: A line that defines the boundary or outline of a form in an image. His sweeping contours give simplified faces and bodies their distinctive clarity.
Reclining Nude (1917): A 1917 painting by Modigliani depicting a nude woman reclining on a bed. Its direct pose and sensuality exemplify the nudes that caused a scandal at his 1917 exhibition.
Beatrice Hastings: Beatrice Hastings (1879–1943) was an English writer and journalist who lived in Paris. Her relationship with Modigliani coincided with a period of intense portrait-making.
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze: An art academy in Florence that provides instruction in visual arts. Modigliani studied there in 1902 before continuing his training in Venice.

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Chaïm SoutineRelated: Modigliani befriended Soutine and introduced him to the dealer Léopold Zborowski.