Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell
Sacheverell (left) and Osbert Sitwell
© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans
July 13, 2022
The Missed Opportunity
The offer was made sometime in the late fall or early winter of 1919: “Twelve large nudes, sixty to eighty paintings, and many sculptures and drawings” for between £700 and £1,000. Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932), the Polish poet-turned-art dealer who had represented Modigliani for the past three years, was probably desperate. With the artist’s health failing, Zbrowoski turned to the aristocratic English brothers Osbert (1892–1969) and Sacheverell Sitwell (1897–1988), offering them what must have been nearly the entirety of his Modigliani holdings. At the time, the brothers were 26 and 21, respectively.
The Sitwells, along with their older sister Edith (1887–1964), were well connected in London society and leaders of the avant-garde. All three were prolific writers, publishing books of poetry and regularly contributing to journals. On a trip to Paris in March 1919, Sacheverell hoped to meet Modigliani and he brought with him a letter of introduction from their mutual friend, the Welsh painter Nina Hamnett. Modigliani was living in Nice at the time so Sacheverell met Zborowski instead. The two men may have bonded over their shared vocation as poets but their interest in introducing Modigliani’s paintings to a London audience led them to hatch a plan for an ambitious group show. French Art 1914–19 opened that August in the Mansard Gallery, located in a large room on the top floor of the Heal & Son department store. Zborowski gathered the 177 paintings and sculptures and almost as many drawings for the exhibition which became the first opportunity since the war for the English public to see the latest art from Paris. Among the artists whose works were on view, Modigliani was well represented with nine paintings and fifty unframed drawings which were available for perusal in a large wicker basket by the front desk. Despite taking place when many Londoners were away on holiday, the show generated a great deal of press. Sales, however, were lackluster, though the organizers managed to sell at least one painting and possibly two by Modigliani.
The Sitwells recalled that Zborowski made them his offer in the fall sometime after the exhibition closed in September. Though their family was wealthy, the brothers did not have the cash on hand. They decided to turn to their father Sir George Raresby Sitwell to ask if he would help fund the purchase. In his memoir, Osbert recounts the story of the dinner party that he and Sacheverell arranged in honor of Sir George’s 60th birthday — on January 27, 1920 — during which they hoped to convince him to finance the acquisition. It seems they were unaware that Modigliani had died three days earlier. Things did not go smoothly at the dinner. Their father’s friend, who they had strategically invited to join the small party, unexpectedly threw a wrench into the carefully conceived plan. When confronted with The Peasant Girl, the Modigliani painting that hung in the brothers’ sitting room, he unsolicitedly expressed his deep indignation and outrage at what he considered to be an affront to “Good Taste.” Startled by his friend’s violent reaction, Sir George lost his nerve and the deal was doomed.
Had the sale gone through, nearly one hundred recently completed paintings by Modigliani would have been transferred to two enterprising young men in London in late 1919 or early 1920. The artist’s legacy would likely look substantially different today. Determined as they were to prove to their father that they were capable businessmen, the brothers probably would have made an effort to document the works, arrange exhibitions to generate interest, and regulate sales to control the artist’s market. But even if Sir George had agreed to the deal that evening, it would already have been too late. Allegedly, Zborowski began receiving offers for Modigliani’s paintings at the artist’s funeral which took place at the Père-Lachaise cemetery earlier the same day.
Julia May Boddewyn
Sources:
Pierre Sichel, Modigliani (London: W.H. Allen, 1967), 455–62.
Osbert Sitwell, Laughter in the Next Room (London: Macmillan & Company Ltd., 1949), 160–65. Internet archive link.
Sacheverell Sitwell, For Want of the Golden City (New York: John Day Company, 1973), 392. Internet archive link.
Kenneth Wayne, Modigliani and the Artists of Montparnasse exh. cat. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. in association with Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 2002), 73.
The Modigliani Initiative