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by Amedeo Modigliani |
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This Modigliani painting is in the collection of our own Saint Louis Art Museum, and is one of my very favorites.
To see many more of Modigliani's works, check archive links on the Art Online! page. You can also go directly to: |
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Commentary by Brent Benjamin, Museum Director of The Saint Louis Art Museum: |
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One work of art that never fails to arrest me as I walk through the galleries is Amedeo Modigliani's 1919 portrait, Elvira Resting at a Table. My first impression
is of the elegance, aloofness and exotic beauty of the young woman. As I look more closely, I am mesmerized by the sitter's face and the reduced, abstract means by which
the artist portrays her features. He succeeds in giving us a strong sense of her personality and mood without revealing much actual detail.
To me, one of the memorable aspects of this painting is how it evokes images of works of art from other times and places. The woman's face reminds me of African masks, those of the Dan in particular, with their elegant and abstract rendering of facial features. I also am reminded of Japanese masks with their restrained coloration and thin, highly arched eyebrows, as well as the gaunt, attenuated faces and bodies of medieval sculpture. I love the way the artist used the blunt end of the brush to scratch out the part in the model's hair, and the subtle reflections of green in the rich black fabric of the dress. The young son of the man [Joseph Pulitzer] who gave this painting to the Museum called it, "The Little Girl Who Wouldn't Eat Her Spinach." I find this simultaneously hilarious and insightful in its integration of the melancholy expression of the sitter with the bowl of food sitting on the table. There is rarely one "right" way to look at a work of art, and one of the strengths of this painting, and of great works of art in general, is the ability to evoke such strong, varied and personal responses from a range of viewers. The Saint Louis Art Museum Magazine, April-June 2000, page 4 |
