Spotlight
In Spotlight, we will periodically present short essays on the latest research findings and overlooked aspects of Modigliani’s life and circle. While the artist’s name is readily recognized, and volumes of literature have been written about him and his work, there remains a surprising number of overlooked areas in his biography. This is particularly true of some of his subjects and early collectors of his work, many of whom were marginalized over time because of their gender or by anti-Semitic forces that culminated with World War II. Spotlight will focus on these individuals—the models, collectors, friends, and lesser-known art dealers in Modigliani’s circle—whose stories enrich the provenance of his works and, at the same time, contribute to the scholarship on the artist.
Game Changer
How Galerie Bernheim-Jeune Initiated the Modigliani Craze
One of the leading art galleries in Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune first entered the Modigliani market in September 1920. Just months after the artist’s death, the gallery acquired seven paintings from the Norwegian art dealer Walther Halvorsen (1887–1972). By year’s end, Bernheim-Jeune had purchased five more paintings from a range of sources, including one of Amedeo Modigliani’s earliest collectors, as well as one of his good friends. Even the art dealer Paul Guillaume (1891–1934), one of the first to support the artist, sold a painting to Galerie Bernheim-Jeune in December 1920.
“Peintres d’aujourd’hui”
Modigliani at the Galerie Paul Guillaume
The poet Max Jacob introduced Paul Guillaume to Modigliani probably in late 1914. Guillaume then became the artist’s primary dealer and took credit for Modigliani’s shift from sculpture to painting. The artist duly produced four portraits of his new agent, three of which are dated on the front: 1915, September 1915, and 1916, roughly documenting the period of their alliance. Curiously, though he acquired a substantial number of paintings from the artist during this time, Guillaume never organized a solo exhibition for Modigliani.