Max Jacob in a top hat

Oil on canvas, dated 1916

Date1916

MediumOil on canvas

Size76.7 × 63.8 cm

CollectionKunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

SignatureBottom left, dated 1916

Investigation1916-w-12

Identification

Title: Max Jacob / Max Jacob with high hat / Max Jacob en haut de forme.
Date: 1916.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 76.7 × 63.8 cm. Several catalogues (1955 exhibition, Klein, Patani, Parisot, MR): 73 × 60 cm.
Signature: Signed at bottom left modigliani / 1916, with a possible additional “max”; inscribed MAX at top left and MAX / JACOB at top right.
Present location: Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, inv. 1036. Acquired at the Lefèvre sale, Palais Galliera, 25 November 1965, no. 70, with a donation from Westdeutscher Rundfunk.

Catalogue numbers

Compiler	Number
Arthur Pfannstiel	no. 80
Joseph Lanthemann	no. 67
Ambrogio Ceroni	no. 104
Jeanne Modigliani	YES
Christian Parisot	5/1916
Osvaldo Patani	no. 108
Modigliani Project	YES
MR	YES
Modigliani Initiative	?

Legal note on MR: This investigation has not had access to MR’s catalogue raisonné; all research here is based on open sources, publications and exhibitions. By no means has that catalogue been copied at any point. Modigliani Project and Modigliani Initiative are marked YES when the work is published or otherwise recorded by those projects, even if no catalogue number is assigned; otherwise the field is marked ?.

Provenance

Paul Poiret Collection, Paris.
Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Collection Poiret, 18 November 1925.
André Lefèvre, Paris.
Palais Galliera, Paris, Collection Lefèvre, 25 November 1965, no. 70.
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, inv. 1036.

The sequence follows the published museum, sale, and catalogue record in this investigation. Gaps and uncertain transfers are marked as such.

Selected bibliography

Book-length publications are marked with a footnote giving a full citation. Exhibition catalogues appear in both this list and the exhibition list when this investigation recorded them in both places. Where this investigation listed a long run of secondary mentions, only the principal catalogues and museum or sale references are retained here.

Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, p. 12, no. 11.¹
Arthur Pfannstiel, 1956, no. 80.²
Ambrogio Ceroni, 1958, no. 63.³
Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 67.⁴
Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, 1970, no. 104.⁵
Christian Parisot, 1991, no. 5/1916.⁶
Osvaldo Patani, 1991–94, no. 108.⁷
Werner Schmalenbach, 1990, p. 24, no. 4.⁸
Kenneth Wayne, 2002, p. 88, no. 11.⁹
Mason Klein, 2004, p. 126, pl. 41, dated 1916.¹⁰
Nancy Ireson and Simonetta Fraquelli, 2017, p. 111.¹¹

Exhibitions

Zurich, Kunsthaus, 1930, no. 135.
Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1933, no. 19.
Paris, Galerie de France, 1945–46, no. 4.
London, Tate Gallery, 1950, no. 95.
Bern, Kunsthalle, 1955, no. 9.
Paris, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Collection André Lefèvre, 1964, no. 208.
London, Tate Gallery, Picasso to Lichtenstein, 1974, no. 90.
Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1981, no. 30.
Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1991, no. 32.
Buffalo, Fort Worth and Los Angeles, 2002–2003, no. 11.
New York and Toronto, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, 2004–2005.
Madrid and Fort Worth, The Mirror and the Mask, 2007, no. 53.
Bonn, 2009, no. 71.
London, Tate Modern, 2017–2018.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 19, dated 1916, with no provenance.

This investigation records a drawn ear painted over the colour.

A related drawing is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper.

The original this investigation marked several fields as still being checked. The facts above are those already published; where sources disagree, both readings are given.

Max Jacob in a top hat — Image courtesy of Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, as published in the documentation assembled for this investigation.

Signature published in the documentation assembled for this investigation.

Ear detail — Drawn ear painted over the colour.

Related drawing, Quimper — Drawing published in the documentation assembled for this investigation.

Photograph of Max Jacob — Photograph of the sitter.

Footnotes

Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani. L’Art et la Vie, preface by Louis Latourette, Paris, Seheur, 1929 (presumed catalogue).
Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son œuvre, étude critique et catalogue raisonné, Paris, Bibliothèque des Arts, 1956.
Ambrogio Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani: peintre; suivi des souvenirs de Lunia Czechowska, Milan, Edizioni del Milione, 1958.
Joseph Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné: sa vie, son œuvre, son art, Barcelona, G. Condal, 1970.
Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, I dipinti di Modigliani, Milan, Rizzoli, 1970.
Christian Parisot, Catalogue raisonné Modigliani, Livorno, Graphis Arte, 1991.
Osvaldo Patani, Modigliani. Catalogo generale, Milan, Leonardo, 1991–94.
Werner Schmalenbach, Amedeo Modigliani, Munich, Prestel, 1990.
Kenneth Wayne, Modigliani and the Artists of Montparnasse, New York, Abrams / Albright-Knox Art Gallery, 2002.
Mason Klein, Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, New York, The Jewish Museum, 2004.
Nancy Ireson and Simonetta Fraquelli, Modigliani, London, Tate Modern / Skira Rizzoli, 2017.