WASHINGTON, D.C.- Modigliani: Beyond the Myth, the most comprehensive American exhibition of the artist’s work in over 50 years, is on view at The Phillips Collection through May 29, 2005. The exhibition re-examines the art and life of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920). Too often the drama of Modigliani’s life as a legendary bohemian artist has overshadowed his art. The exhibition will offer new insight into his work’s meaning and sources. The Phillips Collection is the final destination for this acclaimed exhibition, featuring nearly 100 works, including 25 works exclusive to the D.C. presentation.

“The Phillips Collection is gratified to collaborate with The Jewish Museum in bringing this exhibition to our newly renovated Goh galleries,” said Jay Gates, director of The Phillips Collection. “As the only other U.S. venue for this show, we are pleased to give residents of and visitors to the Nation’s Capital a last chance to see this beautiful body of work and reflect upon the cultural and intellectual heritage that profoundly informed Modigliani’s art.”

Organized by The Jewish Museum in New York and made possible by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, the exhibition was granted an indemnity by the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. Support for the exhibition’s presentation at the Phillips was provided by Trish and George Vradenburg and the Vradenburg Foundation. Additional funding came from the Zickler Family Foundation and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas D. Rutherfoord, Jr. Modigliani: Beyond the Myth presents paintings, sculptures, and drawings on loan from collections in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, and Australia. The exhibition will show Modigliani’s contribution to European modernism and 20th-century portraiture, and the role of his Italian-Jewish Amedeo Modigliani heritage in the development of his innovative style, which synthesized a variety of historical models from Egypt, Africa, Asia, and classical antiquity. The inclusion of over 40 works on paper, including 16 loaned exclusively to the Phillips, highlights the role drawing played in Modigliani’s stylistic development and daily life. A prolific draughtsman, Modigliani used drawing to investigate his formal concerns. “The drawings reveal the artist’s creative process and provide vital links to the evolution of his portraiture and stylized nudes,” noted Eliza Rathbone, chief curator at The Phillips Collection. “They show that his portraits and nudes, so often viewed as anonymous in their abstraction, are dynamic attempts to forge a universal language of art that allows for individual traits. The exhibition will illuminate the compassion the artist felt for humanity as expressed in his work.”