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Modigliani: A Life, by Jeffrey Meyers
PDF Download Modigliani: A Life, by Jeffrey Meyers
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In 1920, at the age of thirty-five, Amedeo Modigliani died in poverty and neglect in Paris, much like a figure out of La Boh`eme. His life had been as dramatic as his death. An Italian Jew from a bourgeois family, "Modi" had a weakness for drink, hashish, and the many women-including the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova-who were drawn to his good looks. His friends included Picasso, Utrillo, Soutine, and other important artists of his day, yet his own work stood apart, generating little interest while he lived. Today's art world, however, acknowledges him as a master whose limited oeuvre-sculptures, portraits, and some of the most appealing nudes in the whole of modern art-cannot satisfy collectors' demand.
With a lively but judicious hand, biographer Jeffrey Meyers sketches Modigliani and the art he produced, illuminating not only this little-known figure but also the painters, writers, lovers, and others who inhabited early twentieth-century Paris with him.
- Sales Rank: #1646503 in Books
- Brand: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT
- Published on: 2006-03-20
- Ingredients: Example Ingredients
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.04" h x 6.72" w x 9.16" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
From Publishers Weekly
In this personality-driven new biography, Meyers (Katherine Mansfield; Hemingway; D.H. Lawrence; etc.) turns his discerning eye to an artist whose "painting thrived on chaos," the French-Italian-Jewish bohemian Amedeo Modigliani. A contemporary of Picasso who detested cubism, "Modi," as he was known to his friends, was stricken with tuberculosis at 16. And while the incurable lung disease eventually led to his death at age 35, his rowdy and reckless lifestyle—replete with women, drugs and drink—surely contributed as well. Modigliani's tumultuous behavior, Meyers posits, was inextricably tied to his work. Meyers presents clear readings of Modigliani's paintings and sculptures, spelling out the influence of art nouveau, Lautrec, stylized African sculpture and mannerism on the artist's flat, vividly colored style. He also knowledgeably traces Modi's self-destructive rise from philosophy-reading child to posthumous star. Though Meyers tends to lapse into lengthy mini-biographies every time a new acquaintance of the artist's is introduced (an interlude about Modigliani's ex-lover Beatrice Hastings, for example, segues into a discussion of Hastings's ex-lover Katherine Mansfield) and frequently repeats his thesis (Modigliani was self-destructive!), he has painted a vibrant portrait of a deeply unhappy man. (Mar.)
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Astute and prolific Meyers, the Joyce Carol Oates of biographers, has concentrated on literary lives, and now turns to artists. He dubs Amedeo Modigliani "the greatest Italian painter since Tiepolo," but, sadly, Modigliani's talent was matched in force by his self-destructiveness. Efficient yet generous with vivid details and intriguing asides, Meyers describes Modigliani's hometown, Livorno, Italy, and portrays the artist's Jewish family, which, tragically, harbored genes for madness. Modigliani arrived in Paris in 1906, handsome as a god, full of sass and ambition, and steeped in Rimbaud and -Nietzsche. Seductive and outrageous, Modigliani knew everyone yet refused to join any of the headline-grabbing movements, developing, instead, an "intensely idiosyncratic vision" that interested nearly no one. A fickle lover, dependent on drink and drugs, and ill with tuberculosis, his dissolution was catastrophic and his poverty appalling, leading inexorably to his death at 35. Meyers explicitly describes the squalor Modigliani fatalistically endured, dispelling romantic notions about starving artists and starkly exposing a cruel paradox--the wretchedness of Modigliani's life versus the transcendent beauty of his art. Donna Seaman
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
PRAISE FOR IMPRESSIONIST QUARTET
"[Meyers] brilliantly interweaves complex issues of personal relationship, artistic creativity, critical reception, historical events, and widely divergent social and economic backgrounds. [He] remains a master of illuminating detail, but never sacrifices his quest for vivid personal and artistic characterization."--Marvin Eisenberg, professor emeritus of history of art, University of Michigan
Most helpful customer reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Fine for the general reader
By drkhimxz
For the ever-increasing number who discover Modigliani from local museum shows, art appreciation and art history courses, and the mass media, Jeffrey Meyers book will provide a well-written review of known facts about him, some background on a few of his closer friends, the Parisian circle and dealers, as well as a few of his longer-associated lovers. Meyers keeps his focus on Modigliani as a person with sufficient coverage of his work to whet the appetite (perhaps) for a better look at those pictures. Nothing is spared to take the Romance out of the terrible life of a person with life-long tuberculosis, who early on in adulthood became addicted to alcohol, absinthe, ether, hashish, opium, and probably a variety of other destructive drugs. With him, it became a matter of drusg or no painting, and so, those who valued or sought for other reasons his pictures, helped feed his habit. Of course, use of these drugs was commonplace in his crowd so that one had to go to excessive excess, so to speak, to be noticed. Modi, as he was known, did become one of these sad figures
Nonetheless, despite never having any success with his painting, he created a unique body of work, distinctively his own among the artists of Paris (though much influenced by great traditions in art and some from the contemporary interest in the primitive, as it was known). He was a portraitist. Never did he veer toward cubism, landscape, futurism, or any of the other fads and fashions (as well as major contributions) of his time.
He was born to a distinguished Italian Jewish family of Sephardic (Spanish-Portuguese) background; while not a scholarly schoolboy, within the family he received a classical education which deeply influenced him. Poetry and literature were lifelong preoccupations of his. After some art training in Italy he came to Paris which remained his desired home for the rest of his life. He was a member, in good standing but never of successful achievement, of The School of Paris, whose foremost figure was his friend Picasso.
A beautiful man until illness destroyed his looks in the last years of life, he was irresistible to woman, wracking up as many "scores" as any of the very lusty band of which he was part; he had a number of longer-term lovers, though none of them were able to establish a monogamous relation with him, the last of whom committed suicide, with his unborn child inside her, the day after he died. Many, many of these liaisons were conducted in one of the many squalid living quarters in which he lived in his perpetual poverty. Still, even to the end, there was no lack of women eager to have him, and no loss of desire in him (though near the end, the flame burned low, flickered and ultimately died). To those who knew him over the years, close friends like Moise Kisling, he was a literate, sensitive, understanding companion when sober and a humiliated, angry, hostile wretch when not. As the years went by, there were ever fewer periods of the former. He died, in physical and mental deterioration, at the age of 35. Almost immediately after, he became salable on the art market and remains an ever more valuable commodity.
One note of caution in reading this work. Meyer does devote a chapter or two to the pictures, and describes some throughout the book. However, what illustrations there are, are in black and white. making it almost impossible to get much from the descriptions. Having read the book away from home, thus without my many volumes with fully colored, often fine reproductions, this frustrated me. If your interest lies only with this book and not the more extensive discussions of a monograph, of which there are some very fine ones, I would suggest you pick up one of the excellent paperbounds which focus on illustrations in color with minimal text. It will make reading a richer experience at little additional cost.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Good but needs more photo's!
By Brian Asquith
Meyers provides a wonderful insight into the harsh world, both mentally and physically, of Modigliani (Modi) and the art scene at the turn of 20th C Paris. Along with the tortured world of Modi, Meyers also offers bios of Modi's contemporaries, art dealers and lovers...Soutine, Lipchitz, Brancusi, Utrillo, Derain, Picasso, Pascin, Gris, Severini, Kisling etc. And the lives of this lot wasn't all roses either, with a number of them coming to various grisly ends. However, many of them were to find varying degrees of fame during their lifetime. Alas for Modi that wasn't the case. Frequently on the verge of starvation, trading drawings for food, drink & drugs, suffering from tuberculosis, charismatic while sober, menacing while drunk, he wouldn't back down and subscribe to any one of the various "isms" that were currently rife in Paris. He knew he had a unique style lurking within and belligerently strove to expose it. African art had a huge impact on his final style. And even when he managed to sell a painting (often bought out of pity) he would only accept a couple of francs even though the buyer was offering more.
As with most artistic tragedies, Modi was ahead of his time. Towards the end of his life his pictures sold for approx 150 francs. Ten years later those same paintings commanded 500,000 francs. And today they exchange hands at auction for tens of millions of dollars, making Modi's "unique" vision the most sought after compared with his contemporaries (Picasso aside).
Meyers, through Modi and the other artists, provides good insight in to the squalid conditions that existed in Montmartre and Montparnasse. Modi's charm and good looks certainly made him a hit with the ladies. He had a string of lovers and fathered a number of children also. His last love, Jeanne, jumped to her death 2 days after his.
The book is flawed by the short supply of photo's with only 23 works collected here, and they are in b&w. Throughout the book Meyers provides descriptions of many of Modi's works, but due to the scant selection provided I found myself looking elsewhere for images. "A picture is worth a 1000 words" is particularly apt here. Eventually, I found myself skimming over his descriptions as they were fairly arbitrary focusing on colours, body/head positions, which didn't lend anything to the story. I got the impression that maybe Meyers had intended to include a greater selection but possibly for cost cutting or copyright reasons that was curtailed close to publishing. Or he's just padding out the text. Also there appears to be one photograph and 1 painting that are titled differently to the text.
This is the first book I have read on Modigliani so I cannot offer any comparison with other bio's available. I found it to be a good read. Meyers sews together the various aspects of Modi's life well. The writing style is straightforward compared with the convoluted writings that pervade art literature.
Recommended.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Love of the Loved
By Kevin Killian
I cried thinking of the tormented genius we all admired in the recent feature biopic Modigliani starring Andy Garcia. As Jeffrey Meyers points out in his workmanlike bio, Modligiani inspired at least five poems and nine novels, and also there was an earlier biopic which sounds terrific starring from 1958, directed by France's great cinema genius Hacques Becker. This film, Les Amants du Montparnasse, stars Gerald Philipe in the title role, and Lea Padovani (from CHRIST IN CONCRETE) as his leading lady, and of all people Lilli Palmer playing the very English Beatrice Hastings, while poor Anouk Aimee assigned to undergo the mist difficult of all the parts, poor doomed Jeanne Hebuterne. Can't wait to see this one on DVD!
However until then cry your eyes out reading about how Modligiani, who came from the Italian-Jewish section of Livorno which also gave birth to many of Italy's greatest 20th century novelists including Primo Levi, soon became a master of painting, although he had only one one-person show in his entire brief life, and you could go to a box and buy one of his drawings for the equuvalent of 25 cents. Though some women thought him a great lover, Meyers hints that perhaps his circumcised penis caused him to "stand out" from other men in pre World War I France, and ceryainly his treatment of poor Jeanne, who loved him so much, was awful. He raped her on first meeting her and she had to beg a seamstress to sew up her underwear before she could return home to her parents. A painter herself, Jeanne had the strange, "Goth" look of one who has lived a long time in underground burrows like the Hobbits, and her yellow braids were pinned over her ears like earmuffs, or, some said, like microphones so she could spy on others more effectively. Modi was a terrible dad, and he wasn't very good about committing himself to others, but, as Meyers reveals, he was a very good painter, and he picked up poetry tips from another girlfriend, diva assoluta Anna Akhmatova.
Meyers argues that his painting broke traditions of Jewish art by including pubic hair in his nudes of women. He is on shakier ground however in trying to determine which of Modi's paintings are authentic. It's shocking to see how much Modi's paintings have increased in value over the years. Rats ate a whole slew of his drawings, because they were stained with sausage crumbs and grease. Speculators had a field day, and forgers too. Women loved him and cried real tears when he died, only in his thirties, of painful TB, and poor doomed Jeanne tried to live without him for awhile, but she liked it not, and instead she jumped to her death within 48 hours of his funeral service.
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