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Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz

Large painting, standing man blue turtleneck, sitting woman with white collar.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Large painting, standing man blue turtleneck, sitting woman with white collar.

Date:

1916

Artist:

Amedeo Modigliani
Italian, 1884–1920

About this artwork

After receiving his artistic training in Italy, the sculptor and painter Amedeo Modigliani moved to Paris in 1906. Three years later, he helped pioneer a general migration of artists to the neighborhood of Montparnasse, which remained the center of avant-gard activity in the city until World War II. Scores of artists lived there, and many of them shared a Jewish heritage—including Modigliani and his friend the Lithuanian-born sculptor Jacques Lipchitz.

Lipchitz commissioned Modigliani to paint this portrait on the occasion of his marriage to the Russian poet Berthe Kitrosser, as a way of helping his troubled friend financially. The double portrait is one of only three in the artist’s oeuvre and, according to Lipchitz, took two days to paint. Modigliani made about twenty drawings on the first day; the next day, he declared the picture finished. At the modest price of what Lipchitz remembered as “ten francs per sitting and a little alcohol,” however, he persuaded Modigliani to work on the portrait for another two weeks in an effort to provide more financial assistance to his friend. Despite Modigliani’s exceptional talent, his work found a market only after his death in 1920, which was hastened by tuberculosis and his legendary bohemian lifestyle.

Status

On View, Gallery 391

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Amedeo Modigliani

Title

Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1916

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Signed upper right: modigliani inscribed upper center: LIPCHITZ

Dimensions

81.3 × 54.3 cm (32 × 21 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Helen Birch Bartlett Memorial Collection

Reference Number

1926.221

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/27987/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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