News From The Modigliani Initiative

May 28, 2025

Spring News

Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, 1916. Art Institute of Chicago

As spring is the season of rejuvenation, we are pleased to report that the Modigliani Initiative has been hard at work preparing for the next phase of our mission to support Modigliani’s legacy. Plans to release the first edition of an online digital resource are well underway and we will keep you apprised of our progress in the coming months. We hope to inspire a new generation of scholars, and to that end, we were thrilled to speak to graduate students in Milan about our work. We were likewise excited to discover a popular new song inspired by Modigliani’s melancholic portraits. The artist’s work continues to gain attention at art fairs and at auction, and publications related to some of his most avid collectors shed new light on the early interest in his work among American audiences. We hope you enjoy our selection of Modigliani-related news items below.

Inspiring a New Generation

On March 24, the Modigliani Initiative guest lectured online on the subject of due diligence in provenance research as part of the Master’s Program in Arts Management at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. Offering case studies, we demonstrated that in-depth provenance research and scholarly collaboration, combined with a transparent, fact-based approach, has led to breakthrough discoveries in Modigliani’s life and oeuvre. We hope this model will guide students in their future provenance research endeavors.

Modigliani Melancholy

Madame Hanka Zborowska Leaning on a Chair, 1919. Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia

While visiting the Barnes Foundation, singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus was struck by the artist’s melancholic portraits, inspiring her to write Modigliani, which touches on the tribulations of a relationship. You can listen to the song here. Forever Is A Feeling, an oil portrait of Dacus and also the title of her new album, was subsequently exhibited at the Barnes (April 17–18). Read more about Dacus’s journey that led her to Modigliani here.

Art Fair News: TEFAF New York

Nude: Seated, Hands Clasped over Head (Nu),
c. 1917.
Ben Brown Fine Arts, London

Tête de trois quarts vers la droite (recto), 1910–11. Galerie Lefebvre, New York

The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) held its New York Fair from May 8 to 13, and there were some delightful works on paper by Modigliani on view. In addition, sculptures by his fellow artists Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Laurens, and Léon Indenbaum—whose portraits the artist painted in 1915 and 1916—made for a lovely reunion.

Auction News

L’Incisore Weill (The Engraver Weill), 1909.

The Modigliani Initiative was pleased to provide an early exhibition reference to the bibliography of L’Incisore Weill (The Engraver Weill), confirming that the painting was in New York by the spring of 1931. Sold on May 14 at Sotheby’s New York, the portrait was painted by Modigliani in 1909, three years after his arrival in Paris, and possibly depicts the engraver and printer Nathan Weill (1849–1925). More details and the lot essay can be accessed here.

Cariatide, c. 1910–11. Charcoal on paper

On May 13, Christie’s New York sold a Cariatide drawing that was originally owned by Dr. Paul Alexandre (c. 1881–1968), who was among the artist’s earliest patrons. More information can be accessed here.

New Publications

Dr. Albert C. Barnes

Blake Gopnik has authored The Maverick’s Museum, a new and unfiltered biography of collector Dr. Albert C. Barnes (1872–1951), founder of the famed collection now housed at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. Barnes was one of the earliest collectors of Modigliani in the US, and the collection features twelve paintings, making it one of the largest holdings in the world. More information can be found here.

Lillie P. Bliss

Another early and important collector of modern art in the US, Lillie P. Bliss (1864–1931) is the subject of a new publication from Bloomsbury as part of its series “Contextualizing Art Markets.” Lillie P. Bliss: Collector, Advocate, and Visionary Benefactor of the Museum of Modern Art, by the art historian and writer Irene M. Walsh, explores how Bliss’s pioneering collection and 1931 bequest shaped the Museum of Modern Art. Here is a link to learn more.

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Leslie Koot | Julie Martin | Julia May Boddewyn

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