Modigliani – Statue – Female Caryatid (1913-1915)

About the female caryatid

This female caryatid statue is part of our exclusive collection of casts and sculptures at the Musart Boutique, inspired by Modigliani’s sketch ©Modigliani Foundation.

• Dimensions: 8.75″H x 7″W x 3.75″D
• Material: Resin
• Weight (lbs): 3.2 lbs, ship wt est: 5.2

A female caryatid is a stone carving of a draped female figure, used as a pillar to support the entablature of a Greek or Greek-style building. Modigliani made more than seventy drawings of caryatids. Their highly stylized manner shows his absorption in a wide variety of arts then considered to be “˜primitive’, including African and especially Cambodian carvings. The drawings were preparatory sketches for sculptures, and Modigliani is said to have conceived of a “˜temple to humanity’ surrounded by hundreds of such caryatids.

Modigliani was completely exhausted by the heavy and dust work of sculpture. He was forced to devote his attentions once again to painting and was inspired by Cham Soutine, his new neighbor. He was particularly impressed by the technique and definitive lines of this Lithuanian Impressionist. The female caryatid original sketch displays the same sculptural characteristics.

About Modigliani’s art

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor of Jewish heritage. His work and style can be immediately recognized because of his extraordinary interpretations of the human face and body, maintaining his individuality through his the typical elongation of shapes. His works were not received well during his lifetime but later found acceptance.

Modigliani was born in the Tuscan town of Livorno and received his academic education in Florence and Venice. In 1906, he established himself in the famous Montmartre area in Paris. Modigliani had a short and eventful artistic life and was extremely driven and longed for recognition. But his life was also marked by alcoholism, metaphysical fears, and progressive tuberculosis. He took to excessive drinking and drugs and was frequently in poverty. He died at age 35 in Paris of tubercular meningitis and left the world an oeuvre that shows a sincere, obsessive search for truth and purity within art.