Modigliani consistently integrated stylistic features of African art into his distinctive portraits. This work represents Lola de Valence, a famous dancer who had previously modeled for Edouard Manet. Recalling a type of mask made in the French Congo, the head’s elongated shape and abstracted facial features also appear in Modigliani’s limestone sculpture Woman’s Head (MMA 1997.149.10). Although the artist had abandoned sculpture by 1914 to focus exclusively on painting, his African-inflected sculptural style remained a touchstone for his painted portraits until his death in 1920.
Credit Line:Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876–1967), 1967
Object Number:67.187.84
Inscription: Inscribed (left center): LOL[A]/ DE /VALEN[CE]; signed (lower left): Modigliani
[Paul Guillaume, Paris, by 1929–d. 1934]; his widow, Domenica Guillaume, Paris (1934–probably 1940; probably sold in January 1940, for $650, to Valentine); [Valentine Gallery, New York, 1940; probably stock no. 2044c, sold in January 1940, for $980, to de Groot]; Adelaide Milton de Groot, New York (probably by 1940–d. 1967; on loan to MMA, 1952; her bequest to MMA)
Paris. Galerie d'Art Le Niveau. "La Femme dans l'art moderne," May 1–15, 1937, no. 41 [possibly this picture?].
Paris. Galerie Le Niveau. "Exposition Modigliani," April 4–30, 1938, no. 7 (as "Lola de Valence," 1915).
New York. Valentine Gallery. "Twelve Portraits by Modigliani and a Group of Modern French Paintings," January 8–27, 1940, no. 4 (as "Lola de Valence").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Modern European Paintings from New York Private Collections," June 22–September 30, 1956, no catalogue.
New York. Perls Galleries. "Masterpieces from the Collection of Adelaide Milton de Groot," April 14–May 3, 1958, no. 26 (as "Lola de Valence," 1916).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings from Private Collections: Summer Loan Exhibition," July 7–September 7, 1959, checklist no. 71 (lent by Adelaide Milton de Groot).
Jewish Museum, New York. "Modigliani Unmasked: Drawings from the Paul Alexandre Collection," September 15, 2017–February 4, 2018, not in catalogue.
Vienna. Albertina Museum. "Modigliani: The Primitivist Revolution," September 17, 2021–January 9, 2022, no. 79.
Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Modigliani: A Painter and His Dealer," September 20, 2023–January 15, 2024, unnumbered cat. (fig. 54).
Arthur Pfannstiel. Modigliani. Paris, 1929, catalogue présumé, p. 9, as "Portrait de femme" in the collection of Paul Guillaume, Paris.
Gotthard Jedlicka. Modigliani, 1884–1920. Zürich, 1953, p. 82, pl. 11, as formerly in the collection of Paul Guillaume.
[Gualtieri Di] San Lazzaro. Modigliani. Paris, 1953, fig. 3.
Arthur Pfannstiel. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris, 1956, p. 70, no. 49, as in a private collection, U. S. A.
Jeanne Modigliani. Modigliani: Man and Myth. New York, 1958, p. 74, mentions it among works between 1914 and 1916 displaying "elements of satire and caricature".
Ambrogio Ceroni. Amedeo Modigliani: Dessins et sculptures, avec suite du catalogue illustré des peintures. Milan, 1965, p. 40, no. 161, ill., dates it about 1915.
Alfred Werner. Amedeo Modigliani. New York, [1966], fig. 21, dates it 1916.
Ambrogio Ceroni. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan, 1970, p. 90, no. 49, ill. [French ed., 1972].
J[oseph]. Lanthemann. Modigliani, 1884–1920, catalogue raisonné: Sa vie, son Oeuvre complet, son art. Barcelona, 1970, p. 110, no. 43, ill. p. 171, dates it 1912; notes that when it was painted, Modigliani was working mostly in sculpture; remarks that since Lola de Valence was a famous model of Manet's, this picture may be interpreted as a statement that Modigliani's "style ('archaique,' voir négriste) était propre à peindre des chefs-d'oeuvre".
Joseph Lanthemann. "Modigliani inconnu." Modigliani inconnu, suivi de précisions et documents inédits. Brescia, 1978, p. 19, ill.
Jeanne Modigliani. Racconta Modigliani. Ed. Giorgio and Guido Guastalla. Livorno, 1984, p. 99.
Thérèse Castieau-Barrielle. La Vie et l'œuvre de Amedeo Modigliani. Paris, 1987, p. 127.
Osvaldo Patani. Amedeo Modigliani: Catalogo generale. Vol. 1, Dipinti. Milan, 1991, p. 83, no. 54, ill.
Christian Parisot. Modigliani: Catalogue raisonné. Ed. Giorgio and Guido Guastalla. Vol. 2, Peintures, dessins, aquarelles. Livorno, 1991, p. 276, no. 3/1915, ill. p. 63, erroneously lists it as still in a private collection.
Massimo Bertozzi inMemorie dell'Antico nell'arte del Novecento. Exh. cat., Museo degli argenti. Florence, 2009, p. 104.
Seán Hemingway. "Art of the Aegean Bronze Age." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 69 (Spring 2012), fig. 24 (color).
Flavio Fergonzi. "Modigliani: The Path from His Sculpture to 'Nu Couché'." Amedeo Modigliani: "Nu Couché". Ed. Robert Brown. New York, 2015, pp. 96–97, ill. (color).
Julia May Boddewyn. "Valentine Dudensing and the Valentine Gallery: Selling the United States on the School of Paris." Pioneers of the Global Art Market: Paris-Based Dealer Networks, 1850–1950. Ed. Christel H. Force. London, 2020, p. 253.
Cécile Girardeau inModigliani: A Painter and His Art Dealer. Ed. Simonetta Fraquelli and Cécile Girardeau. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 2023, pp. 24, 152, fig. 54 (color).
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