Too often art critics and biographers have linked Modigliani's work to his turbulent life.Besides exploring his biography in detail,this book also attempts a different,more positive and more complete analysis of his unique art - an art which he created alongside the avant-garde painters of the early 20th century.It discusses his perfection o line,the poetic atmosphere of his portrais,the sensuality of his nudes,the pagan and religious influences on his work,and the role played in it by the sacred and the symbolic.

Elegance,understanding of color,unending curiosit about the inner truths and psychology o his models,his friedns and the women in his life - these are central to Modigliani's work.

This book also deals withe the views of French art critics,as expressed in reviews written in the decade immediately following his death in 1920.It includes quotations from Francis Carco,Florent Fels,Andre Salmon,Waldemar George and others,giving a picture of their era.These reviews are invaluable both for their immediacy to the painter's time and for their prophetic quality.

A detailed list of exhibitions from 1907 to the present is also included,together with a comparative chronology.

-100 color illstrations

-34 tow - colour drawings

-16 contemporary photographs