Jeanne Modigliani

JEANNE MODIGLIANI (Nice, 1918 – Paris, 1984).
Untitled.
Mixed media on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 46 x 51 cm; 63 x 72 cm (frame).

The daughter of the acclaimed painter Amedeo Modigliani and the artist Jeanne Hébuterne, Jeanne Modigliani never knew her parents: Amedeo died on January 24, 1920, when Jeanne was only fourteen months old, and her mother—the painter’s muse—committed suicide a few hours later. The girl was adopted by her paternal aunt and raised in Livorno, where she earned a degree in art history from the University of Florence. Of Jewish descent and the granddaughter of a socialist, she fled to Paris in 1939 to escape fascist persecution and, following the Nazi occupation, joined the Maquis. After the war, Jeanne Modigliani began her search for the truth about her father. In 1952, with a fellowship from the National Center for Scientific Research, she also embarked on research into Van Gogh. It was precisely the similarities between the Dutch painter’s life and that of her father that drew her back to him—to Modigliani—to whom she devoted herself entirely from that moment on. Her unwavering commitment to securing official recognition of the value of her father’s work culminated in great success when, in 1981, she organized the most comprehensive Modigliani exhibition to date in Paris: more than 250 works, including paintings, sculptures, gouaches, and drawings, were featured in an exhibition that further heightened interest in the master, if that were even possible. In 1983, she founded the Archives Légales Amedeo Modigliani, with the aim of cataloging and preserving Modigliani’s work. However, Jeanne Modigliani’s life was not limited to her work as a archivist; she also inherited her father’s mastery of the brush. With a style reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism, at times verging on figuration, Jeanne Modigliani’s compositions expressed, with complete sincerity and freedom, the deepest states of the soul. From her most dynamic and spontaneous compositions to her most serene and soothing ones, Jeanne knew how to capture her most intimate and personal self in her works.