COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
MIA_.62.73.1
AMICA Library Year:
2003
Object Type:
Sculpture
Creator Name:
Modigliani Amedeo
Creator Nationality:
Italian
Creator Role:
Artist
Creator Dates/Places:
1884 - 1920
Gender:
M
Creator Name-CRT:
Amedeo Modigliani
Title:
Head of a Woman
View:
Front
Creation Date:
c. 1911
Creation Start Date:
1901
Creation End Date:
1921
Materials and Techniques:
Limestone
Classification Term:
Sculpture
Dimensions:
25 3/4 x 6 3/4 x 8 3/8 in. (65.4 x 17.1 x 21.3 cm)
AMICA Contributor:
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Owner Location:
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
ID Number:
62.73.1
Credit Line:
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Cowles
Context:
Although Modigliani is primarily known as a portraitist and painter of female nudes, the artist also explored the creative possibilities of stone sculpture between 1909 and 1916. Like his painted images, his sculptures are characterized by stylized, geometric features (i.e., tubular necks, wedge-like noses, and large elliptical eyes) that indicate the artist's interest in the art forms of Egyptian and Archaic Greek sculpture and African masks. Until recently, it was assumed that Head of a Woman was a generic exploration of such motifs. However, recent scholarship suggests that this sculpture, and several others very like it, were also inspired by the likeness of the great Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966).Modigliani first met and fell in love with Akhmatova in Paris in the Spring of 1910. It has been suggested that it was during Akhmatova's second extended stay in Paris in 1911 that the artist drew the sketches from which the present sculpture derives. While this has not been conclusively proven, the creation of the sculpture contemporary to their documented love affair lends credence to such a proposition.
Related Image Identifier Link:
MIA_.26870c.tif
