Accompanying text for slideshow: modigliani-042310.doc

 

Many are surprised to learn that Amedeo Modigliani was Jewish

He frequently made a point of saying so with much pride

His dealer, Leopold Zborowski, (Zbo) said “He was a son of a star….”

 

His identity came from the ability of Italian Jews to assimilate

Their success in embracing diversity was part of his experience

Intellectual, religious, & political cultural pluralism existed

He was from Livorno, south of Pisa

It is on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the region of Tuscany

His birthplace is north of Rome and Naples

It is south of Milan, Bologna, and Genoa

Modigliani was born and raised in the port of Livorno

It was a swampy Italian village on the Tyrrhenian coast

It became a seaport around 1600

Jews were invited there to increase its economic importance.

Even Conversos were invited

Livorno was the geographical and historical center of humanism

As an Italian, Modi claimed the illustrious art of the Renaissance

He never experienced anti-semitism until he arrived in Paris

That was just after the Dreyfus affair