: Like a number of other brilliant artists who led brief but
spectacular lives, the drama of Amadeo Modigliani's legendary
career as a bohemian painter has tended to overshadow his
achievements. Famous primarily for his elegantly stylized nudes
and elongated portraits, Modigliani (1884-1920) differed from his
avant-garde artistic contemporaries. He stayed away from his
era's numerous art movements, developing instead a visual
language that was uniquely his own.
His reckless lifestyle in Paris and death in poverty at the age
of 35 made him a romanticized stereotype of the wild, starving
artist in that pre-World War I era. Now, decades after his death,
scholars and curators are working to separate fact from myth and
to illuminate the messages in his life and work.
"Modigliani: Beyond the Myth," the most comprehensive exhibition
of his oeuvre in more than a half century, provides an
opportunity to reexamine his career and art, and offers fresh
insights into his art's meaning and sources. Organized by The
Jewish Museum (where a somewhat different version was seen last
year) and made possible by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the
show is on view at The Phillips Collection through May 29.
