Alfred Werner, Modigliani the Sculptor (New York: Arts, Inc.), 1962. 120 pages, illus.
ART HISTORY IS ONE of the few fields remaining in which everything is yet to be done. It is therefore no surprise that this book, published in 1962, should be the first book ever published on Modigliani’s sculpture.
The artist who is both painter and sculptor is rapidly disappearing—there seems to be a persistent feeling that an artist who is good at the one cannot possibly be very good at the other. Those painters who have produced sculpture in recent times, have done so clearly as a secondary activity. Not the least surprising aspect of Dr. Werner’s excellent introductory essay, therefore, is his suggestion, backed up by considerable evidence that Modigliani conceived of himself primarily as a sculptor and was more drawn to that medium than to painting.
The twenty-five works reproduced—his total known output is not much larger—are strikingly beautiful. Many of them are photographed from several vantage points. The photographs in general, however, are not ideal, employing highly dramatized lighting and failing to communicate any sense of scale.
