Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It's interesting to me that Modigliani is embroiled in a modern controversy that kicked up when one of his pal Picasso's work was recently sold.
Both used the same pre-pubescent street girl as a nude model. Picasso's painting of a nude child he called Linda in his notebooks stirred up a big context dispute when a museum refused to add any written context to the painting. The protesters maintained the child must have been sexually abused by the artist. Or artists, as the same girl also posed nude for Modigliani and at least one other of the Montmarre group of painters.
I think it's a useless tempest in a teacup. Life in 1905 Paris was a tough proposition for the poor who lived in the Montmarre district, where life was cheap and the costs of living were high. That was especially true for all the orphans, runaways, and the kids who were kicked to the streets when their parents could not afford to feed them any longer.
The only thing that is really known about Linda was she was a flower girl who hung out around the indoor circus that was a popular entertainment center in the district. All of the artists who became famous there used the circus acrobats for models, and most of them were young street kids.
The flowers were just a come-on, a reason for a john to stop and ask for sex without getting bounced by a gendarme. The young girls all sold themselves to stay alive, and for most, their lives were short. If sexual disease didn't get them, boys and girls alike, the street violence or the dire poverty did.
But the times 100 years ago were so different that, to me, any context as to the behavior of the artist and his model is completely irrelevant. Art is art. Only the painting has any inherent quality. What does it matter if the artists was a saint or a sinner? Maybe it matters if the artist is still living, but not for one well dead and long dead.
And why does it matter if the model's fate is unknown? Few models from the lower classes were ever anything but anonymous. I tend to doubt Linda would even appreciate the fact her name is still known 100 years later, even if it is only most likely Pablo's nickname for her.
It's interesting to me that Modigliani is embroiled in a modern controversy that kicked up when one of his pal Picasso's work was recently sold.
Both used the same pre-pubescent street girl as a nude model. Picasso's painting of a nude child he called Linda in his notebooks stirred up a big context dispute when a museum refused to add any written context to the painting. The protesters maintained the child must have been sexually abused by the artist. Or artists, as the same girl also posed nude for Modigliani and at least one other of the Montmarre group of painters.
I think it's a useless tempest in a teacup. Life in 1905 Paris was a tough proposition for the poor who lived in the Montmarre district, where life was cheap and the costs of living were high. That was especially true for all the orphans, runaways, and the kids who were kicked to the streets when their parents could not afford to feed them any longer.
The only thing that is really known about Linda was she was a flower girl who hung out around the indoor circus that was a popular entertainment center in the district. All of the artists who became famous there used the circus acrobats for models, and most of them were young street kids.
The flowers were just a come-on, a reason for a john to stop and ask for sex without getting bounced by a gendarme. The young girls all sold themselves to stay alive, and for most, their lives were short. If sexual disease didn't get them, boys and girls alike, the street violence or the dire poverty did.
But the times 100 years ago were so different that, to me, any context as to the behavior of the artist and his model is completely irrelevant. Art is art. Only the painting has any inherent quality. What does it matter if the artists was a saint or a sinner? Maybe it matters if the artist is still living, but not for one well dead and long dead.
And why does it matter if the model's fate is unknown? Few models from the lower classes were ever anything but anonymous. I tend to doubt Linda would even appreciate the fact her name is still known 100 years later, even if it is only most likely Pablo's nickname for her.
While I agree with you, the Social Justice Warriors will not give it a rest. There is not much difference between them and the Taliban and the Wahhabis. Their aim is to destroy anything offensive to their ideology. It doesn't matter if Modigliani is long dead, and that morality and social mores have changed. What matters is that as a white male member of the patriarchy, he victimized a female. It's all race and gender, exploiters and victims, right and wrong, black and white. There is no grey area. It's all or nothing. It's like the Cultural Revolution in China. Destroy the old order in order to build the new utopia. With them on top, running things, of course.
While what I just wrote is a bit of an exaggeration, it isn't entirely untrue. There really are people that think this way, and they seek power. Here in Portland, there was a group last year that wanted to topple the statue of Teddy Roosevelt on horseback that is in front of the art museum. A white man on a horse was unacceptable to them. There is a movement to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of Jefferson High School; even to re-name the high school. He was a slave owner, and therefore evil and must be eradicated from history.
I do not know if everyone who opens that link sees the same Graff ad that I do, but the model in it could be the model for the painting, down to the red lipstick.
While I agree with you, the Social Justice Warriors will not give it a rest. There is not much difference between them and the Taliban and the Wahhabis. Their aim is to destroy anything offensive to their ideology. It doesn't matter if Modigliani is long dead, and that morality and social mores have changed. What matters is that as a white male member of the patriarchy, he victimized a female. It's all race and gender, exploiters and victims, right and wrong, black and white. There is no grey area. It's all or nothing. It's like the Cultural Revolution in China. Destroy the old order in order to build the new utopia. With them on top, running things, of course.
While what I just wrote is a bit of an exaggeration, it isn't entirely untrue. There really are people that think this way, and they seek power. Here in Portland, there was a group last year that wanted to topple the statue of Teddy Roosevelt on horseback that is in front of the art museum. A white man on a horse was unacceptable to them. There is a movement to remove the statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of Jefferson High School; even to re-name the high school. He was a slave owner, and therefore evil and must be eradicated from history.
It's made even more difficult when history becomes a vague subject to many people. Someone who has studied art history becomes very familiar with the past's many controversies and predjudices, while someone who knows very little history at all tends to blend the past into the present.
And only a knowledge of history shows what was once controversial in time becomes conventional. That knowledge can either be a deliverance or a trap, depending on how it's used, and on whom it's used.
It's pretty silly to object to the Roosevelt statue if one knows the man's history. Roosevelt was always a horseman all his life, and at one point, he led a cavalry regiment that was pretty famous in it's day.
Since I haven't seen the statue I can't comment on it further, except to say that when Roosevelt formed the Rough Rider regiment, some cowboys from Oregon were a part of it. About half were cowboys, while the other half were young sons of New York's upper crust. They were all volunteers, and their vast social differences never stopped them from being a very fine and fierce regiment of cavalry.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
