Detail of the Head of a Woman by Modigliani in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 2012

Head of a Woman

Amedeo Modigliani, Italian, 1884 - 1920

Geography: Made in France, Europe

Date: 1912

Medium: Limestone

Dimensions: 27 3/4 x 9 1/4 x 3 inches (70.5 x 23.5 x 7.6 cm) Base: 4 1/2 x 9 1/8 x 8 1/4 inches (11.4 x 23.2 x 21 cm)

Curatorial Department: Modern Art

Object Location: Currently not on view

Accession Number: 1950-2-1

Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Maurice J. Speiser in memory of her husband, 1950

Label:
Though widely recognized for his painted portraits of women with elongated features, Modigliani equally considered himself to be a sculptor of the first rank. He created around two dozen stone sculptures between 1909 and 1915, utilizing the direct carving techniques he had learned in Paris from the Romanian-born sculptor Constantin Brancusi. This bust of a woman's head displays a stylized, modern interpretation of non-Western art--especially Cycladic and Egyptian statuary--also referenced in the artist's oil compositions. Modigliani found sculpture to be a prohibitively expensive and physically demanding process, which explains why he did not produce more three-dimensional works in his short lifetime.

Text from: www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51930.html?mulR=572590285|3