Pencil on cream wove paper, 1918. 422x256 mm; 16⅝x10⅛ inches. Signed and inscribed "12" in pencil, lower left recto.
We would like to thank The Modigliani Initiative for their assistance in cataloguing this work.
Provenance: Sotheby's, New York, November 10, 2000, lot 278 (according to the Sotheby's listing the drawing would be included in the then in process catalogue raisonné of Modigliani's drawings under the direction of the Wildenstein Institute, Paris); Aguttes, Neuilly-sur-Seine, June 19, 2000, lot 429; Piasa, Paris, April 11, 2001, lot 123; Millon & Associés, Paris, December 2022, lot 89; private collection, France.
Published: Parisot, Modigliani: Catalogue raisonné, Rome: Edizioni Carte Segrete, 1996, volume III, 106/18 (illustrated).
Dr. Dyre Diriks (1894-1976) was the son of artists Edvard (1855-1930) and Anna (1870-1932) Diriks, who lived in the artist community of Montparnasse in Paris. Dr. Diriks and his wife, Marguerite, became part of Modigliani's (1884-1920) circle after the artist arrived in Montparnasse around 1910. Modigliani executed several portraits of Dr. Diriks and his wife during their friendship. The Diriks lived in the same building as Simone Thiroux, Modigliani's lover. They attempted to help Thiroux through her tumultuous break up with Modigliani, and Marquerite Diriks became the godmother of Thiroux's illegitimate child (Modigliani never acknowledged paternity). Dr. Diriks began to paint in 1932, later becoming a member of the Salon d'Autome and other artist groups, and remained in Paris until 1970.
