Woman’s Head (Portrait of Beatrice Hastings)

Mediums: marble.
Location: the Museum of Modern Art, G. Pompidou Center, Paris (France).

This architecturally expressive masterpiece by A. Modigliani is the only one of the currently known marble “Heads” by the master from the collection of Roger Dutilleul. In 1913, Amedeo spent some time in Carrara, an Italian city known for its marble quarries. The work seems incomplete as if the sculptor was interested in only one side – the face is full, and the other three faces are sketched. The viewer can see a well-designed face, and its oval shape is very similar to the faces of the Cycladic idols – those that Modigliani admired in the Louvre. The shape and strong slanting of the almond-shaped eyes without a pupil is also inherent in the style of the masters of this ancient civilization. But the ridge of the nose is geometric, which is characteristic of African masks.