Nude 

This drawing, "Nude", comes to us from the hand of Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian artist who spent much of his career in France in the early 20th century. Modigliani, though part of the Parisian avant-garde, remained somewhat outside the dominant art movements of his time. His Jewish and Italian-Sephardic background perhaps contributed to a sense of being an outsider. "Nude" embodies his signature style. The elongated form of this figure recalls classical and Renaissance nudes, yet there is an undeniable modern sensibility, a certain flattening of perspective. The gaze of the subject, cast downward, evokes a sense of introspection and perhaps a hint of melancholy. Modigliani’s nudes, while clearly engaging with the history of the female form in art, seem to suggest a vulnerability.