THE SKINNY ON MODIGLIANI LACMA EXHIBIT SHOWCASES THE MOST PRODUCTIVE YEARS OF THE COLORFUL PAINTER.

Byline: Linda Hutchinson Staff Writer

Those eyes, that face, those sensuous lips, that lovely neck - no, those aren't lyrics rejected by Cole Porter, but they might be reactions to the paintings of Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The bulk of the Italian-born artist's best-known works were created between 1916-19 while in the Montparnasse section of Paris, a hotbed for artists of the era. (He died of tuberculosis - helped along by drugs and alcohol- in January 1920.) Still, even if you don't know the painter, Modigliani's style in that period is unmistakable.

``I'd describe him as a painter's painter,'' says curator Kenneth Wayne of the Albright-Knox Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., where the show ``Modigliani & the Artists of Montparnasse'' originated. ``I think he reveled in the making of great painting; in the brush stroke, and his use of very strong colors.''

In Montparnasse, Modigliani was a contemporary and friend of Henri Matisse, Diego Rivera and Pablo Picasso, who was an admirer and in the 1930s bought the painting ``Black Hair (Young Seated Girl With Brown Hair), 1918.'' The great Spanish artist and Modigliani exhibited together a number of times, and Picasso reportedly thought his friend the best dresser in Paris and was said to have been mumbling his name on his deathbed.

That no less a figure than the brilliant and self-assured Picasso was impressed with Modigliani's talents speaks both to his artistic vision and abilities.

Modigliani, who was influenced by ancient art, takes in the world, ``digests it all and out come things that look like Modigliani's,'' says Carol Eliel, curator of contemporary art at LACMA.

He was one of the very few at that time - along with Matisse and Picasso - who was accomplished in painting, drawings on paper and sculpture.

``I think the show underscores what a full artist he was ... . He was incredibly gifted as a sculptor,'' says Wayne.

While all of Modigliani's talents are on display in the exhibition, it is his portraits - mostly of women - and his nudes, three of which are in the show, that are most striking.

Even the glossy printing of a coffee-table book can't capture the luminous nature of the paintings, which Wayne notes is in the footsteps of the great Italian masters. This is often done when an artist first covers the canvas with a brilliant white paint and then creates over it, leaving bits of the white shining through and giving the work a shimmering quality.

The colors themselves seem to go up a notch in intensity, displaying the particular palette unique to Modigliani - rich in burnt orange, amber, ocher and contrasting pale, dusky and sky blue tones.

A signature of Modigliani are the elliptical faces, which were influenced by the artist's interest in African masks.

``What I am searching for,'' Modigliani once wrote, ``is neither real nor the unreal, but the Subconcious, the mystery of what is Instinctive in the human race.''

As you gaze at one of the Modigliani faces, many seemingly perched on elongated necks, they seem familiar and distant at once. The eyes - another signature element - are sometimes socketless, other times he x's out one eye. A few portraits venture solid irises, but very few. Wayne explained that his friend, sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, once revealed that Modigliani had a theory that one eye looks out, and another looks into the soul.

Modigliani painted more than two dozen female nudes between 1916-19. The three on display offer a look at the erotic sensuality of his work. In ``Nude With Coral Necklace, 1917,'' the woman has a black outline that makes her body - posed in a provocative way - jump out. There is little distinguishable in the background, almost as if she were floating on something, so the eye is meant to focus on the sexuality of the figure. (When the painting was displayed in 1917, it caused a stir, resulting in it - and the other nudes in the exhibit - being taken down.)

Modigliani's last few years were a combination of growing success and a spiral toward death as his health began to decline in 1918. In 1916, he met Jeanne Hebuterne, with whom he lived until his death. (She is also one of his models.) There was an enormous funeral for the artist, which was well-attended, including by Picasso. The pregnant Hebuterne killed herself by jumping out of a fifth-floor window two days after Modigliani's death.

It was the exclamation point to a tumultuous life (Modigliani had numerous mistresses and at least two illegitimate children), which is probably why a biopic on the artist starring Andy Garcia is reportedly in the works. But the exhibit is part of a groundswell of interest about the life and times of Modigliani. In addition to this traveling show, there was another show devoted to Modigliani in Paris and Milan last year.

During his time at Montparnasse, Modigliani created 90 percent of his work, and the LACMA exhibit is also a nod to those heady artistic days of Paris in the teens of last century. A few works by other Montparnasse artists of the time are included in the show.

But it is Modigliani's openness to the multiculturalism of Montparnasse, says Wayne, that ``really embodies what the area was all about.''

Rob Lowman contributed to this story.

MODIGLIANI & THE ARTISTS OF MONTPARNASSE

Where: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.

When: Noon to 8 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays; noon to 9 p.m. Fridays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Through Sept. 28.

Tickets: $7. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 3; 2 -- 3 -- color) Modigliani, top left, enjoyed a creative burst in in Montparnasse, France between 1916-19. The hallmarks of his style-intense colors, oval faces with hollow eyes-are seen in ``Young Woman of the people, left, and ``Servant Girl,'' above, both from 1918.

(4 -- color) Amedeo Modigliani's ``Black Hair (Young Seated Girl With Brown Hair),'' was once owned by his contemporary and friend, Pablo Picasso.

(5) Sculptures such as this limestone bust (``Head,'' 1911-12) attest to Modigliani's skill in other media.