Jeanne Modigliani (1918-1984) - Abstract

JEANNE MODIGLIANI (29 November 1918, Nice – 27 July 1984, Paris)

Abstract

80 x 60 cm.

Acrylic on cardboard.

ca. 1980.

Hand signed and with the stamp of Jeanne Modigliani's workshop.

PROVENANCE: Piaggio Family, 1980-1990.

DESCRIPTION:

Daughter of the acclaimed painter Amedeo Modigliani and the artist Jeanne Hébuterne, Jeanne Modigliani did not know her parents: Amadeo died on January 24, 1920 when Jeanne was only fourteen months old and her mother, the painter's muse, committed suicide after of a few hours. The girl was adopted by her paternal aunt and raised in Livorno, graduating in art history at the University of Florence. Of Jewish origin and granddaughter of a socialist, in 1939 she fled to Paris because of fascist persecution and, after the Nazi occupation, joined the maquis. After the war, Jeanne Modigliani began the search for the truth about her father. In 1952, with a grant from the National Center for Scientific Research, he also embarked on research on Van Gogh. It is precisely the similarities between the life of the Dutch painter and that of her father that made her return to him, to Modigliani, to which she devoted herself completely from that moment on. His constant interest in obtaining official recognition of the value of his father's work was a great success when, in 1981, in Paris, he set up the most comprehensive Modigliani exhibition: more than 250 works including paintings, sculptures, gouaches and drawings were part of of a sample that increased, if possible, the interest in the teacher. In 1983 he founded the Archives Légales Amedeo Modigliani, in order to classify and protect Modigliani's work. However, the life of Jeanne Modigliani was not limited to her documentary work, but rather inherited her mastery of brushes from her father. With a production close to abstract expressionism, sometimes approaching figuration, Jeanne Modigliani's compositions expressed, with complete sincerity and freedom, the deepest states of the soul. From the most dynamic and spontaneous compositions to the most calm and calming, Jeanne knew how to capture her most intimate and personal self in her works.