Paulette Jordain, one of Amedeo Mogliani’s 1919 portraits from his collection became one of the most valuable Western modern art to be sold in Asia recently during Sotheby’s Hong Kong 50th anniversary autumn sales at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Italian painter and sculptor, famed for portraits in modern style worked in France. Paulette Jourdain is one of his works, the subject was the housemaid, assistant and later lover of Modigliani’s dealer Léopold Zbrowski according to Sothesby’s.
“Rare in the market, only 10 portraits by Modigliani have appeared at auction in the past five years. After a tense face-off between two bidders on the phone with Nicholas Chow (Chairman, Asia) and Helena Newman (Chairman, Europe), the masterpiece went to a lady in the room for HK$272,905,000 (US$34,844,510), setting off a thunder of applause.” said Sotheby’s.
“I would like my life to be like a rich river flowing joyfully on Earth,” said Amedeo Modigliani in media reports.
“Modigliani in his personal life is almost a caricature of the misunderstood bohemian painter,” says Tamar Garb, an art historian at University College London in media reports. “If Van Gogh is the quintessential mad genius, Modigliani is the quintessential tubercular alcoholic,” he added,
“Modigliani’s portraiture achieves a unique combination of specificity and generalization. His portraits convey his subjects’ personalities, while his trademark stylization and use of recurring motifs – long necks and almond-shaped eyes – lends them uniformity. Modigliani’s portraiture also serves as a vital art historic record, comprising a gallery of major figures of the École de Paris circle, to which he belonged following his move to Paris in 1906,” said the Art Story in media reports.
“Amedeo Modigliani’s portrait of Paulette Jourdain executed circa 1919, from this collection, became the most valuable Western work of modern art to be sold at auction in Asia. One of the largest canvases ever produced, and one of his final masterpieces, Paulette Jourdain marked the first time a painting by the Italian artist has been offered in Asia,” said Sotheby’s.
Edited by Virginia Van Zandt and Newsdesk Manager
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