How did Constantin Brancusi influence Amedeo Modigliani’s sculptures?

Constantin Brancusi significantly influenced Amedeo Modigliani through his pioneering approach to sculpture, particularly his commitment to direct carving and the use of simplified, organic forms.1

After the two artists met in 1909, Brancusi’s influence became evident in a series of sculptures Modigliani began executing in 1910. Brancusi’s emphasis on pure, organic volumes—as seen in his 1908 work The Kiss—encouraged Modigliani to adopt a similar aesthetic. Furthermore, it was on Brancusi’s advice that Modigliani began to seriously study African sculpture, which subsequently informed the elongated and simplified features of the stone heads Modigliani exhibited in 1912.12

This sculptural period had a lasting impact on Modigliani’s later work; the simplified, elongated characteristics he developed in his stone carvings, such as long necks and oval faces, became defining features of his portraits and nudes when he returned to painting.2