Woman with blue eyes (Jeanne Hébuterne)

Identification

Published titles

English: Woman with blue eyes; Jeanne Hébuterne; Blue eyes.

Date

1917? Pfannstiel 1956 dated the work 1919; Lanthemann no. 397 dated it 1919. Ceroni dates it 1917.

Medium

Oil on canvas.

Dimensions

54.6 × 42.9 cm (museum and Wayne). Parisot and MR: 55 × 46 cm.

Signature

Signed modigliani at top right.

Present location

Philadelphia Museum of Art, inv. 1967-30-59. The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection, 1967.

Catalogue numbers

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

1. Léopold Zborowski, Paris.
2. Netter Collection, Paris.
3. Bignou Collection, Paris.
4. Alex Reid & Lefevre, London.
5. De Hauke & Co., New York (sold to Philadelphia 21 March 1931 for USD 4,540).
6. Samuel S. White Collection, Philadelphia, 1931–67.
7. Philadelphia Museum of Art, inv. 1967-30-59.

Patani names a Zamaron Collection; Pfannstiel names Zborowski–Netter–Bignou. The museum sequence above follows this investigation’s “real provenance.”

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.

• Chester Dale, 1929, pl. 23.¹
• Arthur Pfannstiel, 1929, p. 21; 1956, no. 346 (dated 1919; MR and Patani cite no. 106, Parisot no. 346).²
• Ambrogio Ceroni, 1958, no. 109.³
• Joseph Lanthemann, 1970, no. 397 (dated 1919).⁴
• Ambrogio Ceroni and Leone Piccioni, 1970, no. 181.⁵
• Osvaldo Patani, 1991–94, no. 191.⁶
• Kenneth Wayne, 2002, p. 93, no. 16.⁷
• Mason Klein, 2004, p. 139, pl. 55.⁸
• Simonetta Fraquelli, 2006, p. 108, no. 25.⁹
• Nancy Ireson and Simonetta Fraquelli, 2017.¹⁰

Exhibitions

• London, Reid & Lefevre, 1929, no. 12.
• New York, De Hauke & Co., 1929, no. 30 (Patani by mistake no. 24).
• Chicago, Arts Club, 1929.
• Brussels, 1933, no. 65 (dated 1918; identification marked with doubt in this investigation).
• Japan tour, 1992–93, no. 22.
• Lausanne, Fondation de l’Hermitage, 1994, no. 2; Lugano, 1999, no. 39.
• Buffalo, Fort Worth and Los Angeles, 2002–03, no. 16.
• New York, Toronto and Washington, 2004–05; London, Royal Academy, 2006, no. 25.
• Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 2007; Bonn, 2009, no. 81.
• London, Tate Modern, 2017–18.

Notes

D’Atri papers no. 148, “les yeux bleus” (portrait de Mme Hébuterne), 54.5 × 43 cm, dated 1917/1918, Samuel S. White, Philadelphia ← Ét. Bignou ← Netter (in 1928).

This investigation records holes at the corners of the support.

This investigation records a drawn ear painted over the colour.

This investigation notes that Lanthemann’s table number 202 and bibliography number 397 do not match.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art confirms Blue Eyes (Portrait of Madame Jeanne Hébuterne), 1917, oil on canvas, 54.6 × 42.9 cm, inv. 1967-30-59, The Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White Collection, 1967.

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