Honoring Modigliani & Soutine in January. Reflecting on the Fellowship of Artists.
Artists Amedeo Modigliani and Chaim Soutine Became Close Friends in Paris Just Before WWI.
January was the month Modigliani died (1920) and the month Soutine was born (1893).
This being January got me thinking about them… and a screenplay I wrote.
I wrote this screenplay, Graven Image, because I wanted to explore the friendship between Soutine and Modigliani, delve more deeply into the inner workings of the special fellowship and bond that can grow between artists.
Given the number of portraits they painted of each other, especially the number of times Modigliani painted Soutine, it’s clear they were best friends. Their studio/living spaces were in the same building. And they had a lot of time to talk with an easel between them.
Early 20th century Paris is when and where Post-Impressionism, Cubism, and Fauvism were born. The artists who gave birth to these “isms” lived and worked on Paris’ Left Bank. These neighborhood cafes are where they met, ate, drank, danced, debauched, and debated. Soutine and Modigliani hung out with the likes of Picasso, Chagall, Mondrian and other iconic painters, poets, and pundits.
What did they talk about? What concerned and influenced them? How did they influence each other? That’s what I wondered. And that’s what I explored in Graven Image .
While elements of the story are based on fact, it’s historical fiction.
Don’t let the 100 or so pages deter you. If you haven’t read a screenplay, you’ll see that the pages are much sparser than most forms of writing. So it’s a pretty quick read, and I think you’ll enjoy it.
I entered Graven Image into The Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition a couple of years ago and it did okay.
Considering this is the largest and most prestigious screenwriting competition in the world, I’m pleased that it placed in the top 20% among the nearly 8,000 entries that year.
All of This Got Me Thinking About the Benefits of Artists in Fellowship.
It’s no surprise that most artists work alone. Ours is a solitary endeavor, no matter your chosen medium. And while most artists have family, friends, colleagues, and associates, we’ve all probably experienced what can happen only when artists spend time with each other.
Like Modigliani and Soutine, there are exchanges of ideas, opinions, philosophies and influences that feed artists minds, hearts, and souls which, in turn, can feed their art in ways that simply don’t happen otherwise.
They sometimes become therapy sessions. No one knows an artist better than another artist.
They can become soul exchanges.
Let’s call them “Modigliani moments.”
Read the script and you’ll see what I mean.
Today’s communications technologies and social network feeds do allow for some level of communication and even real-time, face-to-screen video exchanges. But technology still can’t replace actual face time.
This is one of the things I miss most about moving to Chicago from Boston ten years ago. I was part of Boston’s thriving art community in the South End. For twelve years, my studio was located in a Civil War-era mill building that also housed another 40 or so artists.
There are several other such buildings in the area, all harboring two hundred or so working artists. And once the art galleries began moving in from Newbury Street and other parts of the city, the South End officially became the new “Mecca” for art and artists.
Benefits of a Co-op Gallery.
The last of the four galleries in Boston that showed and represented my work was Kingston Gallery.
Kingston is a co-op gallery. In fact, it’s one of the oldest co-op galleries in the country.
I was there for about five years and deeply enjoyed every minute of it. My last solo show at Kingston was in 2008.
A co-op gallery simply means it is artist-run. Each artist member pays a monthly fee and other expenses in return for opportunities to show their work and participate in the gallery’s operation.
We’d meet monthly to discuss gallery business, get an update from the artists who were showing next, review the schedule, review that month’s membership submissions (if there were openings) and socialize some — a couple of hours total.
Anytime opportunities for membership opened up, we’d review submissions as a group, looking at resumes and artist’s statements as artist’s images were projected onto the wall.
New members were only accepted if there was a majority vote among existing members.
It was pretty competitive.
I’m sure it’s even more so now. When I was there, Kingston’s reputation for showing exciting, ground-breaking art had been growing, fueled by word of mouth and rave reviews by Boston’s art critics.
What I miss most were the connections and interactions I had with twenty other artists. Most of them also taught art in the art colleges and art departments of the universities and colleges that generously pepper Boston and much of Massachusetts. Being with them also connected me to the academic side of the art world. A world I’ve not personally experienced, since I’m self taught.
As one of the requirements for membership in a co-op gallery is physical attendance, my moving to Chicago meant leaving the gallery. But I’m very grateful for the years I did have there and the time spent with some great artists, many of whom are still friends.
A Chance to Do It Again.
So when I was recently asked to join a newly forming committee at Water Street Studios Gallery, located in the Chicago suburb in which I live, I was delighted and honored. It’s an incredible space. I’d been to the gallery often as a visitor and I had two paintings in a group show there a couple of years ago.
At our first committee meeting, when Steve Sherrell, the renowned Chicago artist and committee chairman, proposed the idea of turning the gallery into a co-op model, I was both surprised and delighted.
The committee has met twice a month over the last few months exploring, discussing, and defining a co-op model. As we did, we discovered how well it fits Water Street’s established community oriented mission and purpose.
We recently put together an outline of a Water Street co-op gallery model, its’ structure, benefits, processes, and procedures, and it was recently presented to the Board of Directors and approved to move forward.
Water Street Studios Gallery is becoming a co-op gallery.
While we’re still working out some of the finer points, we’re moving ahead. Water Street will become a co-op gallery in the near future.
More Modigliani Moments.
As a committee and gallery member, I’m honored to be part of this wonderful group. I’m looking forward to meeting and getting to know another twenty or so artists as the co-op grows to reach its membership limit.
As I’ve gotten to know Steve and the other artists and curators on the committee, I’ve already had some “Modigliani moments.”
If you’re a Chicago-area artist, you may be able to have some of your own soon.
You’ll be hearing more about invitations to submit for membership in the not-too-distant future. Artists and art lovers alike should start keeping an eye on the Water Street Studios website.
In the meantime, enjoy some entertaining Modigliani moments right here.
When not having Modigliani moments, I’m having life, family, and work moments. If you’d like a moment, email me at, richardadeveau@gmail.com
