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Recently, We needed to get a house warming present for some friends but we were utterly out of      ideas. At a similar event they’d given me with a quaich, a Scottish symbol of eternal friendship, and so i believed We should get something more than just a card.

My friends are an extraordinary couple you just can’t classify easily.  They are  smart, humorous and true individuals and since they were relocating into a new home, I finally decided a showy item could be suitable, but what to choose? My own, personalized style runs to elements from the ancient world, like {Roman art} and Greek sculpture. I spent ages looking for something outstanding, a present that has a meaning, but Aphrodite didn’t seem to be right, an Alexander bust was something we knew our friends already had and Hippocrates might have been perfect for a physician, but not for an IT professional and a lawyer. What I wanted was something the same but also, like my friends, totally unique.

My ultimate pick was a Modigliani sculpture, an elongated female head sculpture very different from the traditional figurines I had considered yet precisely the same. Established and primitive simultaneously Modigliani artwork is plainly influenced by African Masks and Polynesian sculpture, clean and rounded while also long and angular, it’s the contradiction which makes the statues so unique.

Modigliani’s tale is a sad one. Born in 1884, his genius for art was obvious from his childhood, however his life was destroyed by tuberculosis.  His mother guaranteed he had the very best teaching, and he was very highly regarded by his art tutor, even though he developed his own personal style which has more in keeping with the angular Art Deco movement yet to come compared to curvaceous Art Nouveau still fashionable. Most of all, it’s still a style of it’s own, quite unique.

Similar to countless now renowned artists Modigliani was relatively undiscovered in his own life. He created a tremendous amount of work, sometimes as much as 100 drawings a day, but in many cases he gave these to friends or girlfriends that didn’t keep them. It seems as if he understood his life would be brief, and maybe because of that, he took to drugs and alcohol, to the point where some said his unique style was due entirely to hashish, though it was plainly untrue.   He was a follower of Nietzsche and Baudelaire and came to the realization real innovation required dysfunction and defiance. At one point in his career he demolished the majority of his previous works declaring them inferior.

As time went by his wellness became even worse. He was rejected for military service in the First World War and continued to live in Paris, not knowing if the upcoming payment of his allowance might arrive. He was attractive and affable and women enjoyed him, but even though he was able to sell a few paintings during his life, he never made any money from these.

Modigliani died a pauper, from meningitis, his bedding stained with oily fat from a sardine can, one and only thing he had remaining to eat.  As always, there was a female involved. Much more youthful than Modigliani and on the day he perished almost 9 months pregnant with their 2nd child. After his passing her family took her home and the girl stepped back out of a window, killing herself and the unborn infant.

The stories regarding Modigliani’s life are full of contradiction. A few have attempted to imply that the woman, Jeanne Hebuterne was just another passing fancy for Modigliani, but their daughter’s investigation revealed the lady had been an artist off considerable skill. Her figurines had been shown for the very first time in an exhibition in 2000.

As for the Modigliani art we chose, the sculpture is angular and abstract depiction of a woman’s head that is both striking and soft. Unfortunately we cannot comprehend who she is meant to be; there’s no tale unless we make one.  Virtually no specific type of decor is necessary. The Modigliani bust would look great anywhere.

For me, a part of the fascination of this piece as a gift is the likeness between the artisan and my friends. Equally funny, clever and captivating, a rebel and an individual. There the characteristics between them end.