Material Red and black gouache with admixtures of white and blue water-based thickened paint and stick charcoal on thin white wove paper laid down to medium weight wove paper
Dimensions 62.5 x 42.5 cm (24 5/8 x 16 5/8 in)
Place of Creation Paris, France
Price Price upon request.
Status Vetted

About the Work

Amedeo Modigliani, who initially had intended to be a sculptor, studied drawing at the Accademia in Florence and considered his drawings, watercolors, and gouaches an end in themselves. He said, “The art of drawing should not be allowed to die. It would mean the death of art itself.” The present work, one of the masterpieces of his many caryatids in many mediums, is singular, however, in Modigliani’s œuvre for its size, rich black and red coloration, and magnificent presence.

Provenance

The artist; c. 1913-14 direct to his friend,
Mariska Diederich (1884?-1953?), Paris; sometime between the teens and
mid-1940’s to
Sydney G. Biddle (1889-1954), West Chester, PA; by descent to his wife
Cornelia Trowbridge Biddle (1906-1978), West Chester, PA; via
Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, May 2, 1974, lot 123 (cover color illus. and
full page color illus. within the catalogue), $70,000 to
Sir Douglas Myers (1938-2017), Auckland; mid-1980’s to
Private collection, Auckland and London; 2023 to
David Tunick, Inc., New York

Literature

A. Werner, Modigliani the Sculptor, 1962, New York, p. XXXII, no. 76,
full pg. illus.
A. Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani Dessins et Sculptures, avec Suite de Catalogue Illustré des Peintures, vol. II, Milan, 1965, p. 34, no. 116 (not illus. – [incorrect illus.]).
J. Lanthemann, Modigliani-Catalogue Raisonné, 1970, Barcelona, no. 562, illus. pg. 301.
O. Patani, Amedeo Modigliani, Catalogo Generale, Scultore e Desegni, Milano, 1992, p. 198, no. 225.
C. Parisot, Modigliani: Catalogue raisonné, Archives Légales Amedeo Modigliani, Rome, 2006, vol. III, p. 272, no. 72/13, illus. p. 97, pl. 72/13.
Modigliani Project Online Catalogue Raisonné, currently listed under “Newly Accepted Works”.

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