A daughter of Achille Casimir Hébuterne and Eudoxie Anaïs Tellier Hébuterne, Jeanne Hébuterne was born in Meaux in 1898. Trained as a painter at the Académie Colarossi, she integrated into the Montparnasse artistic circle through her brother, André. Her career involved work as both a creator of paintings and a frequent art model for figures such as Tsuguharu Foujita.
Association with Amedeo Modigliani
Introduced to Amedeo Modigliani by sculptor Chana Orloff in 1917, Hébuterne began a relationship with him against her parents' objections. In 1918, the couple relocated to Nice, hoping to market Modigliani's works to wealthy collectors. Their daughter, Jeanne Modigliani, was born there on 29 November 1918. Their life together was marked by periods of domestic instability, as witnesses observed Modigliani behaving with hostility toward her.
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Modigliani, suffering from tuberculous meningitis exacerbated by substance abuse, died on 24 January 1920. At the time of his death, Hébuterne was eight months pregnant with their second child. Two days later, while staying at her parents' home, she committed suicide by jumping from a fifth-floor window, resulting in the death of herself and her unborn son.
Posthumous Reception
Hébuterne was initially interred at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux. Nearly a decade later, her remains were moved to Père Lachaise Cemetery to be buried beside Modigliani. Her daughter, Jeanne, was raised in Florence by her father's sister and eventually wrote a biography of her father titled Modigliani: Man and Myth, published in 1958. In 2000, an exhibition in Venice, Italy, organized by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, purported to display Hébuterne's art; however, it was later discovered that the seventy-seven drawings presented were forgeries, leading to the criminal conviction of curator Christian Parisot.
Fast facts
- Born: 1898, Meaux, France
- Died: 1920, Paris, France
- Education: Académie Colarossi
- Occupations: Painter, art model
- Daughter: Jeanne Modigliani (1918–1984)
- Final resting place: Père Lachaise Cemetery
Questions readers ask
What was the cause of Jeanne Hébuterne's death?
She died by suicide on 26 January 1920, two days after the death of Amedeo Modigliani.
Where is she buried?
She is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.
