Portrait of a Woman

This Portrait of a Woman from c. 1917-18 is another version of Modigliani's most characteristic subject, depicting an unidentified woman with the elongated face, simplified features, and mask-like expression that define his portrait manner. The oil on canvas format distinguishes this from the cardboard portraits that Modigliani produced in the same period—the canvas support allowed a more finished surface than cardboard, and the painting's handling shows the care that Modigliani brought to his most important commissions. The c. 1917-18 date places this in the same period as the cardboard Portrait of a Woman, allowing a comparison between Modigliani's more informal and more finished approaches to the same subject.

The comparison between Modigliani's canvas and cardboard portraits from the same period reveals the range of his stylistic approach: the canvas portraits are more finished and more carefully structured, while the cardboard portraits are more rapid and spontaneous. This Portrait of a Woman on canvas shows Modigliani's more deliberate approach—the features are still elongated and mask-like, but the surface is more finished and the composition more carefully structured than the rapid cardboard portraits.

Portrait of a Woman on canvas is Modigliani's more finished approach to his signature subject: the elongated face and mask-like features rendered with the care and compositional structure that distinguish his canvas portraits from the more rapid cardboard versions. The c. 1917-18 date allows comparison with his more informal cardboard portraits from the same period.