Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz
Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz is a 1916 oil on canvas painting by Amedeo Modigliani. It depicts Modigliani's friend, the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, standing alongside his seated wife Berthe.
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Modigliani and Lipchitz had each moved to France at a young age, were both from Jewish backgrounds, and became close friends who frequented the same artistic circles in Paris.[1] Despite their commonalities, there were marked differences: Lipchitz exemplified artistic industriousness while Modigliani was given to bohemian dissolution.[2]
Before painting Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz Modigliani made a series of preparatory drawings, of which five survive: two of Lipchitz, two of Berthe, and one of them together in the resolved composition.[3] Lipchitz described the painting's development years later:
In 1916, having just signed a contract with Leonce Rosenberg, the dealer, I had a little money. I was also newly married, and my wife and I decided to ask Modigliani to make our portrait. "My price is ten francs a sitting and a little alcohol, you know," he replied when I asked him to do it. He came the next day and made a lot of preliminary drawings, one right after the other, with tremendous speed and precision. ... Finally a pose was decided upon— a pose inspired by our wedding photograph. The following day at one o'clock, Modigliani came with an old canvas and his box of painting materials, and we began to pose. I see him so clearly even now— sitting in front of his canvas which he had put on a chair, working quietly, interrupting only now and then to take a gulp of alcohol from the bottle standing nearby. ... By the end of the day he said "Well, I guess it's finished."[4]
Lipchitz was uncomfortable accepting the painting for merely ten francs, and made excuses in order for Modigliani to continue working on the portrait. "You know", I said, "we sculptors like more substance." "Well," he answered, "if you want me to spoil it, I can continue."[5] The portrait occupied Modigliani for nearly two weeks, "probably the longest time he ever worked on one painting."[5]
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One of only two double portraits painted by Modigliani,[2] Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz has been noted for its complex and enigmatic study of contrasting personalities. Lipchitz is shown with his wife Berthe Kitrosser, a Russian poet, in their Paris apartment that had previously been the home of the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși.[2] Posed in front of an abstracted architectural interior, Lipchitz is handsomely dressed, and stands casually with one hand on Berthe's shoulder. Their mask-like faces have encouraged varied readings; Berthe's gentle sensuality, her large eyes and lips and graceful neck, have been seen to offer a striking contrast to Lipchitz's self-pride, his small eyes and mouth and "wickedly twisted nose" combining to satirical effect.[2] For art historian and curator Mason Klein, Berthe's face is bland and bourgeois, her frilly collar and pert nose suggesting haughtiness, while Lipchitz stands above her, domineering and protective.[7]
Modigliani biographer Werner Schmalenbach compared Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz to the artist's Bride and Groom of 1915, and noted the development away from a purely formal depiction of 'types' to a greater interest in the characterization of individuals.[6] This difference in the two works is consistent with an evolution in Modigliani's drawing and painting toward increased refinement.[6]
After Modigliani died in 1920 Lipchitz crafted his death mask,[2] making twelve plaster molds for Modigliani's friends and family.[8] Soon thereafter Lipchitz traded the painting to his dealer in exchange for the return of sculptures "which I no longer felt were representative."[5] The painting was purchased in 1922, and entered the Art Institute of Chicago in 1926 as part of the Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection.[2]
Notes
- Norton Simon Museum
- A Study in Irony: Modigliani's Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz
- Mann, 104-106
- Lipchitz, 14-16
- Lipchitz, 16
- Schmalenbach, 39
- Klein, Mason, et al, 11
- Lipchitz, 20
References
- Klein, Mason, et al. Modigliani: Beyond the Myth. New York, 2004. The Jewish Museum. ISBN 0-300-10573-8
- Lipchitz, Jacques. Amedeo Modigliani. Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1952
- Mann, Carol. Modigliani. New York, 1980. Thames and Hudson, Inc.
- Schmalenbach, Werner. Amedeo Modigliani: Paintings, sculptures, drawings. Munich, 1990. Prestel-Verlag. ISBN 3-7913-1095-X
- A Study in Irony: Modigliani's Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 1986
- Death Mask of Amedeo Modigliani, Norton Simon Museum