 Hello, I'm Nancy Ius and I'm the Gun Family Chief Curator at the Barnes Foundation and you're joining me for Barnes Takeout. Today I'd like to share with you a picture that is in Room 19, which is one of the upper rooms of the Barnes Foundation. And it's a portrait by the Italian artist Namedeo Modigliani. And it's actually of a man. If you know Modigliani, you probably expect him usually to point images of women. But today we're going to look at a portrait of a male sitter and it's right to the far left of the view that you can see now. So follow me and I will take you closer. And actually just to pause before we go right into detail, you'll see that it's to the left of a woman painted by Henri Rousseau. And it's flanked by another Modigliani portrait of the writer Beatrix Hastings. I've talked about her on a previous Barnes Takeout. So if you've seen that one, then you're already ahead of the game. And if you haven't, maybe you'd like to look it up after this talk. But let's now focus in on this work. And I'm going to take us a little closer still. Here it is. It's of a man called Leopold Soborowski. And it was made in 1919 or thereabouts. It shows a man who is clearly very well dressed. A high collar, a jacket, a tie, hair that is carefully styled and a beard too that seems pretty well groomed. As is quite typical of Modigliani, he only gives us a suggestion of the eyes of the sitter. And you can see actually when I get in close there how thinly the work is painted. This is quite typical of the works that Modigliani made later on in his career. There's a real confidence to the drawing. And again, just if you can see the features delineated and the painting really just leading up to where the lines are. The background is very sparse, just the suggestion of an interior. But really the focus there is on the sitter himself. And I'm really very engaging. Now who was Leopold Soborowski? He was a Polish man who had moved to Paris in 1913 to study art. He had decided to study at the Sorbonne and the Ecole du Louvre, which is a place that you can still study art history. The Sorbonne is Paris' main university. He was from a fairly well off family and he liked to write. So very soon he starts to write art criticism and he has articles published in a newspaper in Krakow in Poland, his homeland. But he also starts to get interested in contemporary art. And this is really what brings him into a friendship and a business relationship with Modigliani. Modigliani in the 1910s had been represented by an art dealer called Paul Guillaume. And if you've been following some of the Barnes takeouts, you'll know that our founder, Dr. Barnes, actually bought quite a few works, most of his works, through Paul Guillaume. However, Barnes also bought some pieces of Soborowski. And in around 1915, it looks as if Paul Guillaume was not really pushing Modigliani as an artist, wasn't really promoting him particularly strongly. And Soborowski saw an opportunity and he started to work with Modigliani and soon became around 1916, Modigliani's main representative. Soborowski helps to organise an exhibition of Modigliani's work, a solo exhibition in around 1917. And he also helps to arrange a showing of Modigliani's work in London. So again, helps to show him overseas. Now, it might seem as if Soborowski was taking a risk by working with a relatively unknown artist or an artist who was building his career. But really, you know, Soborowski didn't have his own gallery, he was working out of his own apartment. And he actually dedicated a room in his apartment to let Modigliani work. So, you know, really, there was that sort of close proximity between the two men. He also bought, well, rented an apartment for Modigliani and his girlfriend, Jean-Hubert Germ, who by then he was engaged to live in the last part of Modigliani's life. You know, really, there was this constant support, but also from a business point of view and encouragement of Modigliani's working process. When Modigliani died early in 1920, from tuberculosis and the complications that had been brought about by his lifestyle, his addiction issues, Soborowski continued to sell Modigliani's work and became known for dealing with that. And it's in the 1920s that Dr. Barnes comes into contact with Soborowski. Interesting, I don't get the impression that Barnes particularly liked working with Soborowski as an art dealer, but it is quite interesting to think that he knew the person that is painted in this portrait who was depicted. So for us, it might seem like a stranger, an elegant stranger, but for Dr. Barnes who purchased the picture, there would have been that recognition. And really, it's quite nice just to focus in on that face. There is something quite sensual about the way that Modigliani describes Soborowski's mouth. Again, just, you know, if you, I love the fact you can get in so close with this. But the way that the lips are drawn, the little shadow that gives you the dimple in the chin there, and look at the way that he describes the hairs, and just using a fine brush and wet paint on wet paint, just those little strokes, you know, really pulling in to the paint beneath. So let's focus back out again. Actually, I can't resist it, but look, again, there's this rosy cheek here, just suggested by a little bit of red paint mixed into the flesh tones there. So I would urge you next time you're in the Barnes Foundation, pop up to Gallery 19 and say hello to Leopold Sobrowski. And yeah, I hope that you all enjoy the work as much as I do. And, you know, that young, fresh-based dealer who was actually five years younger, the Modigliani himself. So really a person making a name for themselves and that wonderful kind of youthful ambition all coming through in this one work. Thanks very much, and please join us for Barnes Takeout next time. Bye-bye.