Recumbent nude with coral necklace

Oil on canvas, 1917

Date1917

MediumOil on canvas

Size73 × 116.7 cm

CollectionSolomon R. Guggenheim Museum

SignatureTop right; inscribed on the reverse

Investigation1917-w-31

Identification

Published titles: English: Recumbent nude; Nude with coral necklace; Recumbent nude with eyes closed.
French: Nu au collier.
Date: 1917.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Dimensions: 73 × 116.7 cm.
Signature: Signed modigliani at top right in white. Inscribed on the reverse in black oil: Modigliani. / 3 Joseph Bara. / Paris. / 1917.
Present location: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, inv. 41.535. Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, gift 1941.

Catalogue numbers

Compiler	Number
Arthur Pfannstiel	no. 141
Joseph Lanthemann	no. 214
Ambrogio Ceroni	no. 186
Jeanne Modigliani	YES
Christian Parisot	37/1917
Osvaldo Patani	no. 200
Modigliani Project	YES
MR	?
Modigliani Initiative	YES

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

Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
Libaude Collection, Paris.
Galerie Bing, Paris.
Fénéon Collection, Paris (1929–38).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, inv. 41.535, gift 1941.

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.

Waldemar George, Modigliani, l’amour de l’art, Paris, 1925, p. 388.
André Salmon, 1926, pl. 18.¹
Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, p. 23; 1956, no. 141.²
Ambrogio Ceroni, 1958, no. 122.³
Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 214.⁴
Ambrogio Ceroni and Françoise Cachin, 1972, no. 186.
Werner Schmalenbach, 1990, p. 109, no. 58.⁵
Christian Parisot, 1991, no. 37/1917.⁶
Osvaldo Patani, 1991–94, no. 200.⁷
Kenneth Wayne, 2002, p. 98, no. 21.⁸
Mason Klein, 2004, p. 133, pl. 48.⁹
Simonetta Fraquelli, 2006, pp. 104–05, no. 23.¹⁰
Aviva Burnstock, Isabelle Duvernois and Carol Stringari, 2018.¹¹

Exhibitions

Paris, Berthe Weill, 1917?; Galerie Bing, 1925, no. 26?
Paris, Grand Palais, Trente ans d’art indépendant, 1926, no. 3104.
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, selections and inaugural displays, 1953–67.
Venice, Palazzo Grassi, Arte Italiana 1900–1945, 1989.
Düsseldorf and Zurich, 1991, no. 53.
Buffalo, Fort Worth and Los Angeles, 2002–03, no. 21.
New York, The Jewish Museum, 2004; London, Royal Academy, 2006, no. 23.
Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 2007; Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza, 2008.
London, Tate Modern, 2017–18.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 238, dated 1917, 73 × 116 cm, titled Nu couché (dormeuse, les mains derrière la tête), possible Hôtel Drouot sale without date, Zborowski 1929 → Libaude 1929 → Bing 1929 → Fénéon.

This investigation records a drawn ear painted over the colour.

The painting was included in the Modigliani technical research study published in The Burlington Magazine, April 2018. The published pigment list for the 1916–17 nudes is recorded under 1917-w-33.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum confirms Nude, 1917, oil on canvas, 73 × 116.7 cm, inv. 41.535, Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, gift 1941. The museum catalogue records the purchase from Félix Fénéon by Solomon R. Guggenheim in 1938. The lining of 1966 obscures the verso inscription transcribed before lining.

This investigation records the same sitter in other paintings of the series.

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

Recumbent nude with coral necklace — Reproduction published in the documentation assembled for this investigation.

Ear and eye — Drawn ear painted over the colour.

Same sitter — Comparison of the same sitter in other paintings.

Tate, 2017 — The painting framed at Tate Modern, 2017.

Galerie Bing, 1925 — The painting at Galerie Bing, Paris, 1925.

Footnotes

André Salmon, Modigliani, sa vie et son œuvre, Paris, Éditions des Quatre Chemins, 1926.
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.
Werner Schmalenbach, Amedeo Modigliani, Munich, Prestel, 1990.
Christian Parisot, Catalogue raisonné Modigliani, Livorno, Graphis Arte, 1991.
Osvaldo Patani, Modigliani. Catalogo generale, Milan, Leonardo, 1991–94.
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.
Simonetta Fraquelli, Modigliani and His Models, London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2006.
Aviva Burnstock, Isabelle Duvernois and Carol Stringari, “Modigliani’s painted nudes, 1916–17,” The Burlington Magazine 160 (April 2018).