Friday, May 16, 2008

Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hébuterne

Antoine and Juliette discuss Amedeo Modigliani and Jeanne Hébuterne
...
Antoine: 1920 and he’s 35 and she’s 22.
Juliette: When they married?
Antoine: When they died.
Juliette: Together?
Antoine: Not quite. Full of drugs and other substances, he dies of tubercular meningitis, and she throws herself out a window two days later, killing herself and her unborn child.
Juliette: Distraught?
Antoine: You could say that.

Juliette: And his work?
Antoine: Time will tell. His pictures catch your attention but there is a similarity between them all. The oval faces, the almond eyes, the pursed lips. Even his few landscapes look like the bodies he drew. That tree curves like a torso.
Juliette: Or like Jeanne's finger. Artists are crazy.
Antoine: Some, maybe, but not all. Beatrix Potter?

________


Voiceover


Antoine adopts the tone and bearing of a serious art critic (The journalistic premodification, "Full of drugs and other substances, he...).


Juliette seems to be egging him on with her cryptic questions (Distraught?).


But their exchange highlights how we genial everyday viewers of pictures at exhibitions can be persuaded to confer star status on someone with a single idea. Sometimes a little undeservedly.


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