Modigliani, Amedeo (1884-1920)
Testa di giovane donna (Head of a Young Lady)
1915
Oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano
The work, along with the Portrait of Moisé Kisling, belonged at first to Paul Guillaume, art critic, dealer and, above all, discoverer of Modigliani, for whom he was, at first, the sole collector. The paintings arrived in Italy following the incredible success of the artist’s retrospective at the 1930 Venice Biennale, and were purchased by the Il Milione gallery in Milan; they reached the collection of Emilio Jesi in the immediate postwar period.
Modigliani had moved permanently to Paris in 1909, where he became linked to the cultural circuits associated with the figure of Guillaume Apollinaire. He executed most of his output, mostly portraits, between 1915 and 1918, depicting mainly friends in his bohemian circle: Head of a Young Woman probably portrays the English writer Beatrice Hastings with whom Modigliani had a tumultuous relationship. (Brera)
See also:
• Hastings, Beatrice (1879-1943)