Modigliani: A Life (Hardcover)

by Jeffrey Meyers (Author)
Key Phrases: melancholy angel, seated nude, standing nude, Max Jacob, Beatrice Hastings, Bateau Lavoir (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this personality-driven new biography, Meyers (Katherine Mansfield; Hemingway; D.H. Lawrence; etc.) turns his discerning eye to an artist whose "painting thrived on chaos," the French-Italian-Jewish bohemian Amedeo Modigliani. A contemporary of Picasso who detested cubism, "Modi," as he was known to his friends, was stricken with tuberculosis at 16. And while the incurable lung disease eventually led to his death at age 35, his rowdy and reckless lifestyle—replete with women, drugs and drink—surely contributed as well. Modigliani's tumultuous behavior, Meyers posits, was inextricably tied to his work. Meyers presents clear readings of Modigliani's paintings and sculptures, spelling out the influence of art nouveau, Lautrec, stylized African sculpture and mannerism on the artist's flat, vividly colored style. He also knowledgeably traces Modi's self-destructive rise from philosophy-reading child to posthumous star. Though Meyers tends to lapse into lengthy mini-biographies every time a new acquaintance of the artist's is introduced (an interlude about Modigliani's ex-lover Beatrice Hastings, for example, segues into a discussion of Hastings's ex-lover Katherine Mansfield) and frequently repeats his thesis (Modigliani was self-destructive!), he has painted a vibrant portrait of a deeply unhappy man. (Mar.)
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From Booklist
Astute and prolific Meyers, the Joyce Carol Oates of biographers, has concentrated on literary lives, and now turns to artists. He dubs Amedeo Modigliani "the greatest Italian painter since Tiepolo," but, sadly, Modigliani's talent was matched in force by his self-destructiveness. Efficient yet generous with vivid details and intriguing asides, Meyers describes Modigliani's hometown, Livorno, Italy, and portrays the artist's Jewish family, which, tragically, harbored genes for madness. Modigliani arrived in Paris in 1906, handsome as a god, full of sass and ambition, and steeped in Rimbaud and -Nietzsche. Seductive and outrageous, Modigliani knew everyone yet refused to join any of the headline-grabbing movements, developing, instead, an "intensely idiosyncratic vision" that interested nearly no one. A fickle lover, dependent on drink and drugs, and ill with tuberculosis, his dissolution was catastrophic and his poverty appalling, leading inexorably to his death at 35. Meyers explicitly describes the squalor Modigliani fatalistically endured, dispelling romantic notions about starving artists and starkly exposing a cruel paradox--the wretchedness of Modigliani's life versus the transcendent beauty of his art. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (March 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151011788
• ISBN-13: 978-0151011780
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #439,509 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love of the Loved, June 9, 2006

By	Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I cried thinking of the tormented genius we all admired in the recent feature biopic Modigliani starring Andy Garcia. As Jeffrey Meyers points out in his workmanlike bio, Modligiani inspired at least five poems and nine novels, and also there was an earlier biopic which sounds terrific starring from 1958, directed by France's great cinema genius Hacques Becker. This film, Les Amants du Montparnasse, stars Gerald Philipe in the title role, and Lea Padovani (from CHRIST IN CONCRETE) as his leading lady, and of all people Lilli Palmer playing the very English Beatrice Hastings, while poor Anouk Aimee assigned to undergo the mist difficult of all the parts, poor doomed Jeanne Hebuterne. Can't wait to see this one on DVD!

However until then cry your eyes out reading about how Modligiani, who came from the Italian-Jewish section of Livorno which also gave birth to many of Italy's greatest 20th century novelists including Primo Levi, soon became a master of painting, although he had only one one-person show in his entire brief life, and you could go to a box and buy one of his drawings for the equuvalent of 25 cents. Though some women thought him a great lover, Meyers hints that perhaps his circumcised penis caused him to "stand out" from other men in pre World War I France, and ceryainly his treatment of poor Jeanne, who loved him so much, was awful. He raped her on first meeting her and she had to beg a seamstress to sew up her underwear before she could return home to her parents. A painter herself, Jeanne had the strange, "Goth" look of one who has lived a long time in underground burrows like the Hobbits, and her yellow braids were pinned over her ears like earmuffs, or, some said, like microphones so she could spy on others more effectively. Modi was a terrible dad, and he wasn't very good about committing himself to others, but, as Meyers reveals, he was a very good painter, and he picked up poetry tips from another girlfriend, diva assoluta Anna Akhmatova.

Meyers argues that his painting broke traditions of Jewish art by including pubic hair in his nudes of women. He is on shakier ground however in trying to determine which of Modi's paintings are authentic. It's shocking to see how much Modi's paintings have increased in value over the years. Rats ate a whole slew of his drawings, because they were stained with sausage crumbs and grease. Speculators had a field day, and forgers too. Women loved him and cried real tears when he died, only in his thirties, of painful TB, and poor doomed Jeanne tried to live without him for awhile, but she liked it not, and instead she jumped to her death within 48 hours of his funeral service.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but needs more photo's!, December 5, 2006

By	Brian Asquith - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Meyers provides a wonderful insight into the harsh world, both mentally and physically, of Modigliani (Modi) and the art scene at the turn of 20th C Paris. Along with the tortured world of Modi, Meyers also offers bios of Modi's contemporaries, art dealers and lovers...Soutine, Lipchitz, Brancusi, Utrillo, Derain, Picasso, Pascin, Gris, Severini, Kisling etc. And the lives of this lot wasn't all roses either, with a number of them coming to various grisly ends. However, many of them were to find varying degrees of fame during their lifetime. Alas for Modi that wasn't the case. Frequently on the verge of starvation, trading drawings for food, drink & drugs, suffering from tuberculosis, charismatic while sober, menacing while drunk, he wouldn't back down and subscribe to any one of the various "isms" that were currently rife in Paris. He knew he had a unique style lurking within and belligerently strove to expose it. African art had a huge impact on his final style. And even when he managed to sell a painting (often bought out of pity) he would only accept a couple of francs even though the buyer was offering more.

As with most artistic tragedies, Modi was ahead of his time. Towards the end of his life his pictures sold for approx 150 francs. Ten years later those same paintings commanded 500,000 francs. And today they exchange hands at auction for tens of millions of dollars, making Modi's "unique" vision the most sought after compared with his contemporaries (Picasso aside).

Meyers, through Modi and the other artists, provides good insight in to the squalid conditions that existed in Montmartre and Montparnasse. Modi's charm and good looks certainly made him a hit with the ladies. He had a string of lovers and fathered a number of children also. His last love, Jeanne, jumped to her death 2 days after his.

The book is flawed by the short supply of photo's with only 23 works collected here, and they are in b&w. Throughout the book Meyers provides descriptions of many of Modi's works, but due to the scant selection provided I found myself looking elsewhere for images. "A picture is worth a 1000 words" is particularly apt here. Eventually, I found myself skimming over his descriptions as they were fairly arbitrary focusing on colours, body/head positions, which didn't lend anything to the story. I got the impression that maybe Meyers had intended to include a greater selection but possibly for cost cutting or copyright reasons that was curtailed close to publishing. Or he's just padding out the text. Also there appears to be one photograph and 1 painting that are titled differently to the text.

This is the first book I have read on Modigliani so I cannot offer any comparison with other bio's available. I found it to be a good read. Meyers sews together the various aspects of Modi's life well. The writing style is straightforward compared with the convoluted writings that pervade art literature.

Recommended.