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Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude (1919): A Case-study of the Temporalities and Geographies of the Return to Order
Bonfanti, Maria Irene
Bonfanti, Maria Irene
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Abstract
In 1930, at the Venice Biennale, Amedeo Modigliani was exhibited for the second time. The works on display resumed his art career: there were drawings and sculptures; portraits, and nudes. They all shared the trace of Modigliani’s interest in the art of the Trecento and of the Italian Renaissance, as well as his avant-garde intentions without ever being part of any specific school. His works were replete with elegant bodies and suggestive deformations such as almond-shaped eyes and elongated necks. Those very features that from 1917 until 1930 had divided critics, both in France and Italy. Only in 1930 did critics recognize Modigliani’s style as a valid solution for the so-called Return to order. Reclining Nude, Head Resting on one Arm is useful as a case-study to understand the shift in the critical reception of Modigliani’s work and the different temporalities and ideological contexts on either side of the Alps. The thesis begins with an analysis of the 1917 exhibition at the Berthe Weil Gallery in Paris and follows with a critique of the 1922 Biennale exhibition in Rome. The thesis concludes with a study of the 1930 Biennale in Venice that represents a turning point in Modigliani’s reception and informs our understanding of the inter-war period.
Moreover, the thesis attempts to explain historiographical trends in art criticism by analyzing the tendencies in and reasons for the Return to order in Italy and France. In other words, to study this specific work by Modigliani, Reclining Nude, Head Resting on one Arm allows to understand a radical change in the critics’ appreciation of this singular artists and his contribution to modern art. However, what scholars have failed to recognize is Modigliani’s appropriation of Trecento and Renaissance art, as well as the formal innovations interpreted from other avant-gardes – in particular Cubism, which provides reasons for the impossibility of identifying Modigliani with any specific movement of the 20th century.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Business Administration)--John Cabot University, Fall 2019.
Date
2019
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Amedeo Modigliani, 1884-1920
Citation
Bonfanti, Maria Irene. "Amedeo Modigliani’s Reclining Nude (1919): A Case-study of the Temporalities and Geographies of the Return to Order". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2019.