Café Singer

1917

Amedeo Modigliani

Artist, Italian, 1884 - 1920

Shown from the knees up, a woman wearing a black dress is painted with areas of mottled color in this vertical painting. The woman’s body faces us, her shoulders sloping steeply down from her elongated neck. She sits with her hands in her lap, and she looks down and to our left. Her peach-colored, long, narrow face comes to a point at her chin, and her cheeks are flushed pink. Her almond-shaped eyes, curved brows, long nose, and closed lips are outlined with gray. Her brown hair is pulled up and back, and short bangs brush her forehead. A gold-colored disk at the point of the dress’s V-neck could be a brooch. Two parallel black lines suggest a chair rail running behind the woman’s elbows. The background is painted with visible strokes of fog gray and moss green above the rail and darker, elephant gray below. The artist signed the upper right corner, “modigliani.”

Media Options

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On View

East Building Ground Level, Gallery 103-A

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Chester Dale Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 92.4 x 60.3 cm (36 3/8 x 23 3/4 in.)
    framed: 112.4 x 80.3 cm (44 1/4 x 31 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1963.10.44

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Léopold Zborowski [1889-1932], Paris); G. Menier, Paris; sold to (Arthur Tooth and Sons, London); sold 6 May 1927 to Chester Dale [1883-1962], New York; bequest 1963 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1926

  • Modigliani, Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, 1926, no. 11.

1931

  • Amedeo Modigliani: Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings, Demotte, Inc., New York, 1931, no. 17.

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943-1951, unnumbered cat., repro.

1965

  • The Chester Dale Bequest, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1965, unnumbered checklist.

1983

  • Modigliani: An Anniversary Exhibition, J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu; Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1983-1984, unnumbered brochure [exhibited in Washington only].

Bibliography

1943

  • Paintings from the Chester Dale Collection. Philadelphia, 1943:, unpaginated, repro.

1963

  • MacNeil, Neil. "Chester Dale: Collector." McCalls (November 1963): 122, repro.

1965

  • Twentieth Century French Paintings & Sculpture of the French School in the Chester Dale Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965 (rev. ed.): 58, repro.

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 90.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 79, repro.

1970

  • Lanthemann, Joseph. Modigliani 1884-1920. Catalogue raisonné. Barcelona, 1970: 128, no. 303, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 234, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 586, no. 900, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 271, repro.

Inscriptions

upper right: modigliani.

Wikidata ID

Q20192088

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