Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) was an Italian painter and sculptor from Livorno who worked in Paris from 1906, first in Montmartre and later in Montparnasse. Influenced by Brancusi and by African and archaic art, he carved stone heads around 1909-1914. He then turned to painting: portraits of friends such as Soutine and Jeanne Hébuterne, and reclining nudes, with elongated necks, almond-shaped eyes and simple forms. He suffered from tuberculosis and died at thirty-five, shortly before he became famous.