Detail View: The AMICA Library: Head of a Woman
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AMICA ID:
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MIA_.62.73.1
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AMICA Library Year:
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2003
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Object Type:
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Sculpture
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Creator Name:
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Modigliani Amedeo
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Creator Nationality:
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Italian
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Creator Role:
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Artist
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Creator Dates/Places:
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1884 - 1920
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Gender:
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M
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Creator Name-CRT:
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Amedeo Modigliani
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Title:
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Head of a Woman
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View:
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Front
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Creation Date:
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c. 1911
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Creation Start Date:
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1901
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Creation End Date:
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1921
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Materials and Techniques:
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Limestone
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Classification Term:
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Sculpture
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Dimensions:
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25 3/4 x 6 3/4 x 8 3/8 in. (65.4 x 17.1 x 21.3 cm)
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AMICA Contributor:
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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Owner Location:
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Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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ID Number:
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62.73.1
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Credit Line:
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Gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Cowles
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Rights:
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Context:
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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.
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Related Image Identifier Link:
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MIA_.26870c.tif
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