Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884-1920) [ITALY] - Lot 4

Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884-1920) [ITALY] Woman with Hat, presumed portrait of Jeanne Hébuterne Pencil on paper (very fine) partially mounted on cardboard. Signed Modigliani lower right. 42.5 x 27 cm (sheet size) 40 x 23 cm (sheet size) Label on back of frame mount "Kulicke Frames, inc. Show room 1007 Madison avenue, New-York." The sheet appears to have been detached from a large sketchbook, serrations on the right edge. (Folds at left edge, horizontal fold at top edge, small tear at bottom right, paper insolation.). Modigliani used to portrait his friends and companions. Sometimes, for money, he would also sketch strangers on the terraces of Montparnasse cafés. Montparnasse. He liked to draw his female models wearing hats: straight or slightly askew, tilted backwards. tilted back, wide-brimmed hat, ribboned hat, cloche hat or Russian hat. cloche hat or Russian-style hat, he manages to capture it in an arabesque. Our portrait is marked by this virtuosity and a dazzling synthesis of line: hat, hair and face are summed up in a few curves. Despite this economy of means, the artist always avoids the ordinary and gives his model an elegance, and here a dreamy expression.