The new Barnes exhibition uses innovative conservation efforts to reveal Modigliani’s unique artistry and behind-the-canvas decisions.
The much-celebrated Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920), with his famous “long-face” style of sculptures and paintings of subjects with elongated faces and necks has had his artistry discussed and examined through many exhibitions and publications. As many leading international museums and foundations attempted to bring together his work, a new group of scholars have been coming up with innovative methods to better understand and convey Modigliani’s evolving artistic processes and decisions.
The Modigliani retrospective at Tate Modern in London from 2017 one of the first exhibitions that hinted at this new scholarship. Building on those findings as well as the inputs of an international team of curators and conservators, the new exhibition Modigliani Up Close at the Barnes Foundation here in Philadelphia brings together many of the modern art figure’s sculptures, paintings, and drawings. But more importantly, Modigliani Up Close aims to contextualize the evolution of his style — his shift from popular movements and repurposed canvases to ethereal paintings with Mediterranean influence. This is done not only by hinting at the locations and circumstances of how and where he worked but also with exciting conservation efforts and analytical techniques that helped curators and researchers better understand the collection of works.
A couple of days before opening it to public, Barnes introduced Modigliani Up Close to a group of members of press, and the fruitful conservation efforts (also explained in their newly published catalog) were explained by the four curators: Barbara Buckley, Senior Director of Conservation and Chief Conservator of Paintings at the Barnes; Simonetta Fraquelli, independent curator and consulting curator for the Barnes; Nancy Ireson, Deputy Director for Collections and Exhibitions & Gund Family Chief Curator at the Barnes; and Annette King, Paintings Conservator at Tate London.
Techniques like X-radiography, infrared reflectography, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) allowed the curators to understand and reveal previously unknown aspects of Modigliani’s work, and the walls were filled with side-to-side panels highlighting previous use of the canvases, underdrawings, and alterations–of course complimented with background information about how Modigliani’s location, financial circumstances, and level of experimentation.
Early days of experimentation
After an academic exposure to art in Italy, Modigliani moved to Paris at twenty-one years old. Greeted by the work of different artists, classic and contemporary, he explored and experimented with new ways of working, inspired by Cézanne, Munch, and Picasso.
In his first years in Paris, Modigliani kept reusing older canvases for painting. Sometimes he would cover up his previous attempts; sometimes it would be over other artists’ work.
The Pretty Housewife (see Figure 1) is a good example. At first sight, it’s a simple portrait of a young blond woman before a usual background that’s somewhat constrained by the narrow vertical canvas. But the X-radiograph and the busy and confusing shapes revealed show that the portrait is obscuring at least two other paintings.
Figure 1. Amedeo Modigliani. The Pretty Housewife (La Jolie ménagère), 1915. The Barnes Foundation, BF327.
X-radiography, an imaging technique using X-rays and popular in the medical field, reveals the varying densities of materials in an artifact, for example the thickness of paint in a painting. Materials with heavy elements such as lead paint or metal tools will absorb more X-ray radiation, while materials with lighter elements such as ultramarine paint or ungrounded canvasses will be kept in the dark. This reveals valuable information about an artifact’s construction or, in this case, how a painting was made.
Throughout the works of Modigliani, the team of scholars made use of X-radiography to characterize types of ground and paint layers, canvases and other structural elements used, as well as to understand how paint was applied and to identify restoration efforts.
When it comes to The Pretty Housewife, in-depth analysis of the open-weave support that’s been primed with an oil-based lead white ground suggested that this portrait was the second or third painting on the canvas and that Modigliani made use of the underlying coloring, resulting in the final painting’s chromatic and textural complexity. His decision of reusing the canvas in this case is unclear.
Research on his paintings suggest that Modigliani’s practice of reusing canvases was not only because of Modigliani’s financial constraints but also because he enjoyed using older canvases and made use of the underlying colors and texture to enhance the new work.
Nudes and colored priming
Around World War I, Modigliani had a dealer that provided him with canvases, which marked a shift in the artist’s focus on portraits. Particularly, these canvasses had a blue-gray priming, which gave his portraits and nudes a warm glow that complimented the flesh tones, which can be seen in Reclining Nude from the Back (see Figure 2) presented with its X-radiograph and infrared reflectograph.
Figure 2. Amedeo Modigliani. Reclining Nude from the Back (Nu couché de dos), 1917. BF576. Image © The Barnes Foundation
Another valuable tool used by conservationists and art scholars, infrared reflectography (IRR) is another imaging technique used to reveal hidden underdrawings under the brush strokes. Light in the short-wave infrared region (1000–2500 nm) bypasses the layers of paint and is absorbed by carbon-containing materials like graphite or charcoal.
The graphite underdrawings for the Reclining Nude from the Back, highlighted in red, is revealed using white (basic lead carbonate) confirmed with Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, applied on the ground layer. It looks like Modigliani applied some marks with charcoal to position the legs and arms as well as some facial features. The bending amount of the figure’s right arm was also initially decided but was later moved closer to the torso, as the underdrawing shows. And the X-radiograph helps us see that the ground paint was applied with a spatula or a similar tool, as indicated by the sweeping arched lines.
After the war
Around the time the war was ending, Modigliani returned from the South of France and was a more experienced and successful painter. Usually painting the people from his circle, he had better access to tools to perfect his craft. Among those he painted was his companion, Jeanne Hébuterne (see Figure 3). He used a lightweight, plain-weave canvas with a size wider than his previous canvases, which gave him more freedom to paint Hébuterne. This fluidity and freedom of expression is indicated by infrared reflectography (IRR) revealing the brushwork and the underdrawing as he captures the pose.
Figure 3. Amedeo Modigliani, Jeanne Hébuterne, 1919. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nate B. Spingold, 1956 (56.184.2) Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource
Modigliani Up Close is truly a spectacular glimpse into the behind-the-canvas processes of one of the most celebrated figures of modern art in the 20th century. Exciting applications of imaging technologies and conservation are used by the group of scholars to present his body of work chronologically and with scientific evidence.
Modigliani Up Close is organized by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. It will be open for visit until January 29, 2023, and students can get tickets for $5.
