Local and international lovers of art had the pleasure in early December of viewing a hitherto unknown painting by Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of a Man, in Belgrade’s Progres Gallery. The painting’s owner, an anonymous collector of Serb origin, has waited a full 17 years to confirm that the painting was, in fact, a creation of the famous Italian artist. Having financed scholarly studies of the painting himself, the painting’s owner, overjoyed by what he believed all along, wanted to exhibit the painting for the first time to the Belgrade public. Final verification of the painting’s authenticity, dated 1918 (the canvas measures 38x46cm), was obtained by the Modigliani Institute Rome and the Italian Institute for Atomic Physics Ars Mensure.
|
The news confirming that Portrait of a Man is the work of the famous representative of the so-called Paris School was announced, in keeping with its owner’s explicit instructions, on September 25th at a news conference at Belgrade’s City Assembly Building. The painting’s authenticity had been confirmed by Christian Parisot, President of the Modigliani Institute Rome, the only institution authorised to verify the authenticity of Modigliani’s works, and by Stefano Rudolfi, director of the Institute for Atomic Physics Ars Mensura.
The process of verifying the authenticity of the painting involved the most advanced laboratory methods that don’t damage artwork – chemical, photo, and infra-red analysis.
|
 |
According to experts, the authenticity of the work was verified though chemical analysis of the canvass, which was consistent with those used by the artist, and by confirming that the colours in the painting corresponded to those used in that period. The nuances and brush strokes correspond to the period, and the portrait covers the greater part of the canvas, which is the main positioning characteristic for Modigliani.
The identity of the man whose portrait Modigliani painted is not yet known. It is assumed that the person is someone from the cultural and bohemian milieu of Paris of that time.
Apart from the previously unknown Portrait of a Man, the Progres Gallery also displayed about 20 Modigliani drawings, one sculpture, letters, documents and photographs showing the life of the famed painter who, in the early 20th century, was considered by Parisian artistic circles a bohemian with no equal. The exhibition was prepared in cooperation with the Modigliani Institute Rome, and after Belgrade will tour galleries throughout the world.
By the closing date of the exhibition, December 10th, the Progres Gallery had recorded about 80,000 visitors, prompting the gallery management to extend the exhibition for one day. The painter’s granddaughter Laura Modigliani attended the closing and thanked everyone who had shown an interest in the life and work of her grandfather.
The Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) studied painting for a short period in Livorno and Florence before moving to Venice. In 1906 he moved to Paris. In the first years of his life in Paris he painted quite rarely and left himself to impressions, meeting people and leading a full life. It is obvious that Modigliani had brought to Paris the style that had arrived to Venice (and not only Venice) via Vienna and Munich, Secessionism; though neglected for a long period, the Secession style had left a fundamental impact on the development of modern art.
Modigliani’s strongest influences had been Toulouse-Lautrec and Paul Cezanne, and to a lesser extent Braque and Picasso, but the most significant for his art were the sculptures of Brancusi and the tribal plastics.
 |
Observing, for instance, the elongated lines of ritual masks from the Ivory Coast, he realised their linearity could perfectly express the most intimate mood. So he shaped heads and figures, not just copies of tribal masks, whose elongated lines – the triangular prismatic lines of noses and the emphatic lines of chins – displayed the lyrical expressionism we also observe in his paintings.
In his book Chiaroscuro, English painter John Augustus, who visited Modigliani in his studio in 1909, writes: “The floor was covered with figures that were very similar with their slim elongated forms… These heads, carved in stone, made a strong impression on me: for days afterwards I felt a need to observe people in the streets who might pose as my models – and I wasn’t on hashish. Perhaps Modigliani discovered a new aspect of still unknown reality?”
|
When he abandoned sculpturing, it wasn’t abandoning but the need: he was led by a firm intention to apply the same linear principles in painting. His nudes and portraits with their pained elongated faces, their sensual lines and a warm chromatics of skin express the specific moods that differed from then avant-garde trends in painting, but their expression is truthful and deeply rooted in their time.
Having arrived to Paris, Modigliani led a bohemian life; he moved in artistic and literary circles and soon, by his behaviour, became one of the most outstanding figures among the eccentric inhabitants of Montmartre.
In 1913, he moved to Montparnasse, a new centre of Parisian bohemians, associated with the literary avant-garde, the great poets of the time, Apollinaire, Cocteau, Max Jacob… His financial situation was deteriorating rapidly as was his illness. For a short period (1914-1916), he was helped by the English poetess Beatrice Hastings and then art dealer Zborovski.
In 1917 he met Jeanne Hébuterne and spent the last years of his life in relative peace and intensive work.
| 
