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Lot Essay
With a piercing gaze from his clear, blue eyes, the sitter in Homme assis sur fond rouge is an arresting presence. Painted in 1918, this picture fully conveys the calm and poise of its subject, an effect that is heightened by the contrast that his face forms with the orange background. Modigliani has used a discreet colourism to thrust the flesh-coloured and black-suited form of the sitter into the foreground, into our world. A man of business or a man of the world, he leans with confidence and looks at the painter, and by extension at us, from within the orange world of which he appears to be the master. This picture is filled with the confidence that marks the greatest of Modigliani's works from the final period of his life. It was now that the forms with which he had so long been experimenting evolved into something that speaks of a pictorial simplicity and even of purity. The pared-down, sculptural forms of the man's face hint at Modigliani's reduction of the man's appearance to an essential core, yet this core nonetheless is packed with his own character.
Modigliani's art had changed in its atmosphere by the time Homme assis sur fond orange, and this was due to a great confluence of events. One of the most important of these was his relationship with the young art student Jeanne Hébuterne. Unlike some of the more complex women who had been his lovers in previous years, Jeanne's adoration of Modigliani was complete, lacking any sense of the judgemental. Her presence in Modigliani's life brought a glimpse of solace, love, stability and happiness. Even when she discovered that she was pregnant, Modigliani remained apparently happy, willing to acknowledge her as the prospective mother of his child. In terms of business, there was a brief respite in the artist's usual bad luck when, following the scandal of his notorious exhibition at Berthe Weill's gallery, interest in his paintings grew. This exhibition had caused an outrage in Paris due to the presence of his extremely frank paintings of the female nude which, against convention, included pubic hair. Eventually even the authorities were involved. For a brief time, Modigliani had sought to rid himself of the pictures in question, but luckily failed to, as interest in them brought about new, albeit brief, wealth.
All these factors combined to infuse Modigliani's paintings of 1918 with a great sense of elegance, poise and serenity. In Homme assis sur fond orange, the features of the sitter have a sheen, a marble-like finish that recalls Greek antiquities. This brings about the timeless quality that makes Modigliani's portraits so unique-- this picture represents concurrently an idealised archetype of Man, a universal figure of perfection showing the beauty of the human soul, and at the same time is a clearly defined portrait, idiosyncratic, conveying the sitter's own personality. As with all the best portraits of the period, the composition is bold and planar and the detail of the face painted with great delicacy.
Modigliani's good fortune was short-lived within a short time, the First World War, a constant background presence in Paris, made itself all too apparent with the bombardment of the city by Big Bertha, a long-range cannon that the Germans had placed at a huge distance from the capital. The random nature of the destruction that the cannon caused prompted Modigliani to flee the city with Jeanne, in turn accompanied by her mother (also on the trip they were accompanied by Soutine, Foujita, and Foujita's wife Fernande Barrey). Heading for the South of France, they hoped to sell pictures to the wealthy people on the coast now that almost all the dealers and the buyers had left Paris. But these buyers never materialised in this false Eldorado, and poverty stalked back into Modigliani's life, as did illness. Despite this, his paintings retained much of the character that they had now gained through the relative stability of his relationship with Jeanne, who herself features in so many of his portraits and whose form can be seen in its own right as influencing the style of Modigliani's works from this period. One wonders, indeed, if Homme assis sur fond orange dates from the beginning of the year in Paris following Modigliani's brief new fame, or whether it provided a brief moment of hope in the South.
Some astute collectors had shown interest in Modigliani's works long before Homme assis sur fond orange was painted. One of these was the merchant Jones Netter, who owned Homme assis sur fond rouge amongst other works, having devoted himself to accumulating a formidable collection of pictures by Modigliani, Kisling, Soutine and Utrillo. These he bought from 1915 onwards, almost all with the help of Modigliani's friend and dealer Léopold Zborowski (Netter also owned the 1913 painting also being offered in this sale, Le buste rouge). Netter, interviewed in 1929, would recall that he generally paid the paltry sum of three hundred francs for Modigliani's canvases at most. Netter was one of the major collectors who also, along with Roger Dutilleul (whose collection of modern painting would form the backbone of the Musée d'Art Moderne in Villeneuve d'Ascq), who lent a significant number of pictures to the retrospective of Modigliani's work that was held, in 1930, at the XVII Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. The largest exhibition of the artist's works ever held before that time, this Biennale exhibition included thirty-eight canvases, including Homme assis sur fond orange, which is shown in a contemporary installation photograph of the show. This exhibition sharpened and renewed interest in Modigliani, and contributed to his subsequent recognition as one of the most important artists at the turn of the century, and one of the great pioneers of modern art. It is a tribute to Netter's foresight that within a decade of the artist's death, the paintings for which he had paid only hundreds of francs were selling for hundreds of thousands of francs. Many of the pictures by Modigliani that he once owned now grace the walls of museums in Paris, New York and elsewhere.
Modigliani's art had changed in its atmosphere by the time Homme assis sur fond orange, and this was due to a great confluence of events. One of the most important of these was his relationship with the young art student Jeanne Hébuterne. Unlike some of the more complex women who had been his lovers in previous years, Jeanne's adoration of Modigliani was complete, lacking any sense of the judgemental. Her presence in Modigliani's life brought a glimpse of solace, love, stability and happiness. Even when she discovered that she was pregnant, Modigliani remained apparently happy, willing to acknowledge her as the prospective mother of his child. In terms of business, there was a brief respite in the artist's usual bad luck when, following the scandal of his notorious exhibition at Berthe Weill's gallery, interest in his paintings grew. This exhibition had caused an outrage in Paris due to the presence of his extremely frank paintings of the female nude which, against convention, included pubic hair. Eventually even the authorities were involved. For a brief time, Modigliani had sought to rid himself of the pictures in question, but luckily failed to, as interest in them brought about new, albeit brief, wealth.
All these factors combined to infuse Modigliani's paintings of 1918 with a great sense of elegance, poise and serenity. In Homme assis sur fond orange, the features of the sitter have a sheen, a marble-like finish that recalls Greek antiquities. This brings about the timeless quality that makes Modigliani's portraits so unique-- this picture represents concurrently an idealised archetype of Man, a universal figure of perfection showing the beauty of the human soul, and at the same time is a clearly defined portrait, idiosyncratic, conveying the sitter's own personality. As with all the best portraits of the period, the composition is bold and planar and the detail of the face painted with great delicacy.
Modigliani's good fortune was short-lived within a short time, the First World War, a constant background presence in Paris, made itself all too apparent with the bombardment of the city by Big Bertha, a long-range cannon that the Germans had placed at a huge distance from the capital. The random nature of the destruction that the cannon caused prompted Modigliani to flee the city with Jeanne, in turn accompanied by her mother (also on the trip they were accompanied by Soutine, Foujita, and Foujita's wife Fernande Barrey). Heading for the South of France, they hoped to sell pictures to the wealthy people on the coast now that almost all the dealers and the buyers had left Paris. But these buyers never materialised in this false Eldorado, and poverty stalked back into Modigliani's life, as did illness. Despite this, his paintings retained much of the character that they had now gained through the relative stability of his relationship with Jeanne, who herself features in so many of his portraits and whose form can be seen in its own right as influencing the style of Modigliani's works from this period. One wonders, indeed, if Homme assis sur fond orange dates from the beginning of the year in Paris following Modigliani's brief new fame, or whether it provided a brief moment of hope in the South.
Some astute collectors had shown interest in Modigliani's works long before Homme assis sur fond orange was painted. One of these was the merchant Jones Netter, who owned Homme assis sur fond rouge amongst other works, having devoted himself to accumulating a formidable collection of pictures by Modigliani, Kisling, Soutine and Utrillo. These he bought from 1915 onwards, almost all with the help of Modigliani's friend and dealer Léopold Zborowski (Netter also owned the 1913 painting also being offered in this sale, Le buste rouge). Netter, interviewed in 1929, would recall that he generally paid the paltry sum of three hundred francs for Modigliani's canvases at most. Netter was one of the major collectors who also, along with Roger Dutilleul (whose collection of modern painting would form the backbone of the Musée d'Art Moderne in Villeneuve d'Ascq), who lent a significant number of pictures to the retrospective of Modigliani's work that was held, in 1930, at the XVII Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte di Venezia. The largest exhibition of the artist's works ever held before that time, this Biennale exhibition included thirty-eight canvases, including Homme assis sur fond orange, which is shown in a contemporary installation photograph of the show. This exhibition sharpened and renewed interest in Modigliani, and contributed to his subsequent recognition as one of the most important artists at the turn of the century, and one of the great pioneers of modern art. It is a tribute to Netter's foresight that within a decade of the artist's death, the paintings for which he had paid only hundreds of francs were selling for hundreds of thousands of francs. Many of the pictures by Modigliani that he once owned now grace the walls of museums in Paris, New York and elsewhere.