Dimensions: object: 892 x 140 x 352 mm, 41 kg
Copyright: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This striking sculpture, titled "Head," is by Amedeo Modigliani. It is an elongated stone carving. What stands out to me is its seeming simplicity, yet it has such a powerful presence. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see Modigliani engaging with Primitivism, appropriating and reinterpreting African masks and sculptures. How does this simplification, the abstraction of the face, relate to colonialism's gaze and the power dynamics inherent in artistic representation? Editor: So, its beauty is complicated by its historical context? Curator: Precisely. The sculpture prompts us to consider how Western artists have historically engaged with and often misrepresented non-Western cultures and artistic traditions. What do you think? Editor: I had not considered that before, but now I see how complex a seemingly simple form can be! Thank you. Curator: It is in this complexity that we find the most compelling dialogues.
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This is one of a series of radically simplified heads with elongated faces and stylised features that Modigliani made between 1911 and 1913. He was inspired by art from countries such as Cambodia, Egypt and Ivory Coast, which he saw in Paris’s ethnography museum. His patron Paul Alexandre recalled how Modigliani worked in this period: ‘When a figure haunted his mind, he would draw feverishly with unbelievable speed… He sculpted the same way. He drew for a long time, then he attacked the block directly.’ Gallery label, January 2019
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