Madame Kisling
Amedeo Modigliani
AMEDEO MODIGLIANI, c1917. OIL ON CANVAS
Modigliani is most famous for his female nudes, their elongated, distorted bodies are soft and fluid, his characteristic almond eyes make their faces almost mask like. Since Modigliani began painting, his figures have been the essence of modernity. Yet, they lived within a traditional of nude painting and portraiture, and while they subverted that tradition, they still existed within in. Here, in his portrait of his protégé Moise Kisling’s wife Renee Kisling, he epitomises modernity. She is dressed in the cutting edge vogue of the day, wearing men’s suiting and short thick hair. Modigliani traditionally curve lines give way here to sharp angles, gone are the undulations of almond shaped faces and in their place a decisive, almost aggressive bone structure quite unlike any of his other portraits, combining feminine strength and sensuality. Madame Kisling is an exception in Modigliani’s oeuvre, and his portrait of her cemented a changing of the tide as aesthetic modernity across mediums met in harmony.