1947 After Amedeo Modigliani, "Reclining Nude" First Edition Parisian Offset Lithograph

Description

A lovely rare First Edition offset lithograph print after "Reclining Nude" painting by Amedeo Modigliani. Comes from a First Limited … more A lovely rare First Edition offset lithograph print after "Reclining Nude" painting by Amedeo Modigliani. Comes from a First Limited Edition folio published by Les Editions Du Chene in Paris, 1947. Originally mounted on heavy wove paper, then on a larger sheet of vintage paper. Excellent condition: minor age wear, never framed.

11"W x 14.90"H Overall
8.75"L x 5.75"H Image

Modigliani's nudes scandalized audiences with their depiction of features such as pubic hair and their frank, unadorned sexuality. This is what the artist said about it: "Every great work of art should be considered like any work of nature. First of all from the point of view of its aesthetic reality and then not just from its development and the mastery of its creation but from the standpoint of what has moved and agitated its creator."

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (1884 - 1920) was an Italian artist of Jewish heritage, practicing both painting and sculpture, who pursued his career for the most part in France. Modigliani was born in Livorno (historically referred to in English as Leghorn), in Northwestern Italy and began his artistic studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906. Influenced by the artists in his circle of friends and associates, by a range of genres and art movements, and by primitive art, Modigliani's oeuvre was nonetheless unique and idiosyncratic. He died in Paris of tubercular meningitis, exacerbated by poverty, overworking, and an excessive use of alcohol and narcotics, at the age of 35.

On the subject of the editor: Editions du Chêne, Paris 1941, it is an occupied Paris which witnesses the emergence, 16, place Vendôme, of the Editions du Chêne. A risky bet given that its 21-year old founder was called Maurice Kahane, an atheist Jewish man who would then adopt the name of his mother, Girodias. The Chêne specialised itself by the edition of art books and literature. The Editions du Chêne would become a branch of the Hachette group in 1951. The edition of art books would then adopt pride of place. George Herscher takes over the Hachette house with enthusiasm in 1971. less