124
VARIETY
NOTES ON A
MODIGLIANI NUDE
The painting is of a reclining
nude.
It
was one of several paint–
ings of nude women recently on
view in the large exhibit of Modi–
gliani's work at the Museum of
Modem Art.
This particular palOtlOg is
owned by the museum, and was
acquired through the Mrs. Simon
Guggenheim Fund. It is a highly
valuable possession, part of the
museum's permanent collection.
Referring to possession, one thinks
of the artist remotely.
Modigliani produced the paint–
ing in 1918. He possibly cast it
aside almost immediately in order
to go to work on another. While
he lived, no museum wanted his
work. It was valueless to society
then. When Modigliani died, the
painting became rare. He could
produce no more. He was finished.
Public taste has since caught up
with his death, and his taste.
The contrast between the ap–
preciation accorded the painting
today, and the indifference accord–
ed it while Modigliani lived is
significant, because the subject of
this particular painting is an
af–
front and a challenge to conven–
tion. This nude is a profound
aesthetic study which questions
and probes the deepest nature of
personal possession. It studies the
qualities of possessing beauty in
one's person: the relation of phy–
sical beauty to the soul. The "own–
ership" of personal beauty
(be–
ing
beautiful) is more complex
than the ownership of a thing
(such as a valuable painting by
Modigliani). The painting is there–
fore a permanent mockery of the
buyable and sellable values which
make it valuable to a museum col–
lection and private collectors.
The painting confronts you. It
is startling, as if a flash of light–
ning had pierced a total dark–
ness, illuminating the nakedness of
the sleeping girl. The effect
is
instantaneous, rather than timed.
Although excitement permeates the
canvas, the impression is of a
moment caught, not in haste or
wild emotion, but with controlled
and bold certainty.
The lines are sensuously carved.
The sharpness of the image
is
matched by the pungency of the
flesh tones and the warm colored
curves of the body. She is asleep,
but her body is awake. The light
doesn't illuminate her arm-her
arm illuminates the light-reflects
it. Ochres and reds are blended
into colors never seen before, an
interpretation of flesh consummate–
ly stark.
The sensuality is notable. The
painting renders sexual beauty ver–
batim, so to speak, without over–
tones of a selected aspect empha–
sized, such as the marble glisten–
ing of Ingres nudes (a form of
