Nude on a blue cushion - Nude - Nu étendu

Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920) — 1916 ? (the museum say 1917)

Date1916 ? (the museum say 1917)

MediumOil on linen

Size65.4 × 100.9 cm

CollectionNational Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. USA ( Inv. no. 1963.10.46)

SignatureSigned "modigliani" top right

Investigation1916-57

Identification

Title: English: Nude on a blue cushion - Nude - Nu étendu.
Date: 1916 ? (the museum say 1917)
Medium: Oil on linen
Dimensions: 65.4 × 100.9 cm
Signature: Signed "modigliani" top right
Present location: National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. USA ( Inv. no. 1963.10.46)

Catalogue numbers

Compiler	Number
Arthur Pfannstiel	no. 153
Joseph Lanthemann	no. 125
Ambrogio Ceroni	no. 146
Jeanne Modigliani	YES
Christian Parisot	28/1916
Osvaldo Patani	no. 148
Modigliani Project	?
MR	?
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

Modigliani
Zborowski Collection?
(Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani et Son œuvre, Paris, 1956, gave the provenance as "Hist: Collection L. Zborowski, Paris," although earlier the same author, in his Modigliani, Paris, 1929, gave the provenance as Guillaume.
According to Chester Dale papers in NGA curatorial files, Guillaume bought the painting directly from Modigliani.)
Paul Guillaume Coll. ( acquired in 1917?)
Chester Dale, April 1928 (Acquired to Guillaume)
Bequest to National Gallery in 1963
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. USA ( Inv. no. 1963.10.46)

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.

Einstein, Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1926 - 1940, p. 231
Art News, "Selections from the Chester Dale Collection." Art News 27, 1928 - no. 3
Dale, Modigliani, Knopf, New York, 1929, pl. 38
Dale. Before Manet to Modigliani from the Chester Dale Collection. New York, 1929 - no. 101, as Nude
Pfannstiel, "catalogue présumé" Modigliani. L'Art et la Vie. Preface de Louis Latourette, Seheur, Paris, 1929, p. 25 - no. 5¹
Basler, Modigliani. Editions G. Cres, Paris, 1931, pl. 25
Craven, Modern Art, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1934, p. 203
Reynal, Modern French painters, Tudor Publishing Co.1934, p. 128
Slocombe, Rebels of Art, Manet to Matisse. New York, 1939, plate 27
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia, 1943
Raynal, Modigliani, Skira, Genève 1951
San Lazzaro, Modigliani peintures, Les Éditions du Chêne, Paris, 1953, p. 9, pl. 50²
Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son œuvre, etude critique et catalogue raisonné, bibliothèque des arts, Paris, 1956 - no. 153 as Nu appuye sur le Bras Droit.³
Ceroni, Amedeo Modigliani : dessins et sculptures ; avec suite du catalogue illustre des peintures, Edizioni del Milione, Milano, 1965 - no. 196
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965
National Gallery of Art, Washington, European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968
Diehl, Modigliani, Ed. Flammarion, Paris, 1969, p. 58⁴
Lanthemann, Modigliani, catalogue raisonné: sa vie, son œuvre, son art, G. Condal, Barcelona, 1970 - no. 125 as Nu⁵
Ceroni & Piccioni, I dipinti di Modigliani, Rizzoli, Milano, 1970 - no. 146⁶
National Gallery of Art, Washington, European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975
Zurcher, Modigliani, Ed. F. Hazan, Paris, 1980 - no. 19⁷
Walker, National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984 - no. 897
Hall, Modigliani, Phaidon, Oxford, 1984 - no. 33⁸
National Gallery of Art, Washington, European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985
Roy, Modigliani, Nathan, Paris, 1985, p. 101⁹
Diehl, Modigliani, Crown Publishers, New York, 1989, p. 58⁴
A. Ceroni, Les nus, 1989, p. 52
Orion Press, Tokyo, 1989 - no. 37
Kopper,America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991
Parisot, Catalogue raisonné Modigliani, Graphis Arte, 1991- no. 28/1916¹⁰
Patani, Catalogo Generale, Leonardo, Milano, 1991-94 - no. 148¹¹
Kruszynski. Amedeo Modigliani: Portraits and Nudes. Munich, 1996
Krystof, Amedeo Modigliani: The Poetry of Seeing, Taschen, Cologne, 2000, p. 69¹²
Soto Caba, Modigliani, The timeless face, Libsa, Madrid, 2007¹³
Secrest, Modigliani: A Life. New York, 2011

Exhibitions

Paris, Modigliani, Galerie Bing et Cie, 1925 (unknown number)
New York, Loan Exhibition of Modern French Art from the Chester Dale Collection for the Benefit of the French Hospital of New York, Wildenstein Galleries, New York, 1928 - no. 30, as Femme Nue
New York,
Amedeo Modigliani: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Demotte, Inc., 1931 - no. 25, as Nu étendu
Brussels, Modigliani: Retrospective Exhibition. Palais des beaux-arts, 1933 - no. 75, as Nu
Basel, Amedeo Modigliani, Kunsthalle, 1934 - no. 65, as Nu
Philadelphia, Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943-1951
Washington, D.C., Modigliani: An Anniversary Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983-1984
Washington, D.C., From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2010-2012
London - Modigliani, Tate Gallery, 2017

Notes

Museum note (NGA): National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., holds Nude on a Blue Cushion, 1917, oil on linen, 65.4 × 100.9 cm, Chester Dale Collection, inv. no. 1963.10.46. Museum provenance records acquisition by Paul Guillaume directly from Modigliani in 1917.

no. 75 in D' Atri papers dated end of 1917, size 100 x 65, titled "Nu" - Provenance in Guillaume > Chester Dale, 1932

The painting framed at the NGA in 2019:

The painting framed at the exhibition Modigliani, Tate Gallery, 2017:

The painting visible at the Exhibition of Modigliani, Galerie Bing et Cie, Paris 1925

The painting visible at the Interior of 20 East 79th Street residence of Chester Dale in New York (Ca 1930)

Where sources disagree, both readings are given. This is a working research page, not a catalogue raisonné.

the painting in the center left at the exhibition of modigliani at the galllery bing in 1925

Interior of 20 East 79th Street residence of Chester Dale.

Footnotes

Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani. L’Art et la Vie, preface by Louis Latourette, Paris, Seheur, 1929 (presumed catalogue).
Gualtieri di San Lazzaro, Modigliani, Paris, Éditions du Chêne, 1953.
Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani et son œuvre, étude critique et catalogue raisonné, Paris, Bibliothèque des Arts, 1956.
Gaston Diehl, Modigliani, Paris, Flammarion, 1969.
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.
Bernard Zurcher, Modigliani, Paris, F. Hazan, 1980.
Douglas Hall, Modigliani, Oxford, Phaidon, 1984.
Claude Roy, Modigliani, Lausanne, Skira, 1958.
Christian Parisot, Catalogue raisonné Modigliani, Livorno, Graphis Arte, 1991.
Osvaldo Patani, Amedeo Modigliani: catalogo generale, Milan, Leonardo, 1991–94.
Doris Krystof, Amedeo Modigliani: The Poetry of Seeing, Cologne, Taschen, 2000.
Victoria Soto Caba, Modigliani: The Timeless Face, Madrid, Libsa, 2007.