loading loading

Artwork

enlarge
Year:
Theme: Portrait
ID 39 (Ceroni 177)
Anna Zborowska
1917
Alternate titles: Anna de Zborowska; Hanka Zborowska (sur un divan); Hanka Zborowska seduta su un divano; Mme. Zborowska; Portrait de Madame Hanka Zborowska; Portrait de Mme Zborowska; Portrait of Anna de Zborowska; Portrait of Anna Zborowska; Portrait of Madam "B" [sic] (Anna de Zborowska); Portrait of Madam "Z" (Anna de Zborowska); Ritratto della signora Zborowska; Ritratto di Anna Zborowska
Oil on canvas
51 1/4 x 32 in. (130.2 x 81.3 cm)
Front unsigned
Reverse no longer visible
Creation location: Paris, Zborowski residence: 3, rue Joseph Bara
Museum of Modern Art, New York. Lillie P. Bliss Collection. (87.1934)
Provenance
Léopold Zborowski and Anna (Hanka) Zborowska, Paris (1917)…1
Galerie Pierre, Paris (by 1929)2
Valentine Gallery, New York (May 6, 1929)3
Lillie P. Bliss, New York (October 21, 1929)4
Museum of Modern Art, New York, by bequest (1931)5
1. In 1926, André Salmon credited Anna Zborowska (1885–1978) as the owner of the painting and three years later Pfannstiel listed Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932) as the former owner. André Salmon. Modigliani: Sa vie et son œuvre (Paris: Éditions des Quatres Chemins, 1926), pl. 4; Arthur Pfannstiel, Modigliani: catalogue présumé (Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929), 20.
2. "Anna de Zborowska," The Lillie P. Bliss Collection. Exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1934), 56. Galerie Pierre, run by Pierre Loeb (1897–1964), is the first listed owner of the painting.
3. Pierre Matisse Gallery Archives. MA 5020: Box 183, Folder 03. Department of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum. New York, N.Y. Valentine Dudensing (1892–1967), the founder and director of the Valentine Gallery, was partnered at the time with Pierre Matisse (1900–1989) and the French dealer's papers include a record of the painting as Portrait de la belle polonaise no. 292 (4.312). This information also appears in the Galerie Pierre records, which confirm the May 1929 sale to the Valentine Gallery with the balance paid in August. Galerie Pierre Grand Livre 1929–32, p. 51. Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), Paris.
4. "October 1929," no. 277. F. Valentine Dudensing Ledger Books, I.2, p. 143. The Museum of Modern Art Archives, New York.
5. Museum of Modern Art website.
Commentary

Anna (Hanka) Zborowska (1885–1978) was the companion of Modigliani’s art dealer Léopold Zborowski (1889–1932). While not formally married, Anna used the name Zborowska and referred to Léopold as her husband in her memoirs, which were published posthumously.1 Born Anna Sierzpowski in Lublin, Poland, she hailed from a noble but impoverished family. Well-educated and trained as a school teacher, she arrived in Paris in or around 1910, together with her sister Zofia.2 She and Léopold first met in Paris in 1914 but they did not become a couple until probably late 1915 or early 1916. Anna significantly contributed to Léopold's career as an art dealer, assisting him in all business matters. Her sophisticated beauty was captured by Modigliani in eleven known portraits that were published by Ceroni in his 1970 catalogue.3

Anna Zborowska was the first Modigliani painting to enter the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art as part of the Lillie P. Bliss bequest. The portrait was regularly shown by the museum throughout the 1930s and 40s, not only in New York but also at museums across the country.

Canvas information
Using digital X-ray images, automated thread count campaigns have identified paintings that were likely cut from the same bolt of canvas. This painting is part of Clique 10.4 The painting's ground color was identified as white in the Modigliani Technical Research Study of 2018.5

  1. Anna Zborowska, Modigliani et Zborowski (Paris: L'Échoppe, 2015), 30.
  2. Kenneth Wayne, "Modigliani's Inner Circle" in Simonetta Fraquelli and Nancy Ireson, Modigliani. Exh. cat. (London: Tate Publishing, 2017), 175–76.
  3. Ambrogio Ceroni, I dipinti di Modigliani (Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970), nos. 159, 160, 178, 179, 228, 229, 312–14.
  4. Michael Duffy, Museum of Modern Art, email of March 24, 2026.
  5. Barbara Buckley, Michael Duffy, Allison Langley, and Mina Porell, "Modigliani's Paris portraits 1915–17," The Burlington Magazine CLX (April 2018): 317.
Exhibitions
1931b New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Memorial Exhibition: The Collection of the Late Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, Vice-President of the Museum, May 17–October 6, 1931, no. 98, ill. in b/w, as Portrait of Madam "B" [sic] (Anna de Zborowska), dated 1918. Traveled to: Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, October 17–December 15, 1931.
1932 Indianapolis
John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Modern Masters from the Collection of Miss Lizzie P. Bliss, January 1–31, 1932, no. 72, as Anna de Zborowska.
1933a New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Summer Exhibition: Painting and Sculpture, July 10–September 30, 1933, [Paintings from Bliss Collection].
1933b New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Modern European Art, October 4–25, 1933, as Anna de Zborowska.
1934b New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Lillie P. Bliss Collection, May 14–September 12, 1934, no. 46, ill. in b/w, as Anna de Zborowska.
1934–35 New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Modern Works of Art: Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, November 19, 1934–January 20, 1935, no. 117, ill. in b/w, as Anna de Zborowska.
1935 Museum of Modern Art
Saint Louis City Art Museum, Paintings from the Lillie P. Bliss Collection, February 4–March 4, 1935, as Anna de Zborowska. Traveled to: Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, March 13–April 10, 1935; Smith College Museum of Art, Northhampton, Massachusetts, April 23–May 19, 1935.
1935 New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Summer Exhibition: The Museum Collection and a Private Collection on Loan, June 4–September 24, 1935, as Anna de Zborowska.
1936d New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, Summer Exhibition: The Museum Collection and a Private Collection on Loan, July 20–September 2, 1936.
1945–46 New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Museum Collection of Painting and Sculpture, June 20, 1945–February 13, 1946, as Anna de Zborowska.
1951 Cleveland and New York
Cleveland Museum of Art, Modigliani: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, January 30–March 18, 1951, unnum., as Anna Zborowska. Traveled to: Museum of Modern Art, New York, April 11–June 10, 1951.
1951–52 Rome
Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, VI Quadriennale Nazionale d'Arte di Roma, December 18, 1951–May 15, 1952, no. 7, as Ritratto di Anna Zborowska.
1954 Palm Beach
Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, Amedeo Modigliani, 1884–1920, January 8–31, 1954, no. 2, ill. in b/w, as Anna Zborowska, dated c. 1917. Traveled to: Lowe Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, February 11–28, 1954; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, April 15–May 23, 1954.
Published References
The Little Review 1923–24
"[Reproductions]." Margaret C. Anderson, ed. The Little Review: Quarterly Journal of Art and Letters (New York and London) 9, no. 4 (Fall and Winter 1923–24), ill. in b/w, n.p. (after p. 40).
Salmon 1926
Salmon, André. Modigliani: Sa vie et son œuvre. Paris: Éditions des Quatres Chemins, 1926. Monograph, pl. 4, ill. in b/w, as Portrait de Mme Zborowska.
Pfannstiel 1929
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani: catalogue présumé. Paris: Éditions Marcel Seheur, 1929. Monograph, Catalogue p. 20; ill. in b/w, n.p. (opp. p. 92), as Portrait de Mme Zborowska.
Dale 1929b
Dale, Maud. Modigliani. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929. Monograph, no. 2, ill. in b/w, as Mme. Zborowska.
Taguchi 1932
Taguchi, Shogo. Modigliani. Tokyo: Atelier-sha, 1932. Monograph, no. 6, ill. in b/w, as Portrait de Mme Zborowska.
Watkins 1933
Watkins, Charles Law. "Pictures of People." American Magazine of Art (Washington, D.C.) 26, no. 11 (November 1933), ill. in b/w, p. 501, as Anna de Zborowska.
Franchi 1944
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Centro Italiano Editoriale Librario, 1944. Monograph, no. 9, ill. in b/w, as Ritratto della signora Zborowska, dated 1917.
Crowninshield 1945
Crowninshield, Frank. "People and Ideas: The French Modernists." Vogue (New York) 106, no. 1 (July 1, 1945), no. 5, ill. in b/w, p. 65.
Franchi 1946
Franchi, Raffaello. Modigliani. Florence: Arnaud, 1946. Monograph, pl. XVI, ill. in b/w, as Ritratto della signora Zborowska.
Lipchitz 1954
Lipchitz, Jacques. Amedeo Modigliani (1884–1920). New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1954, pl. 58, ill. in b/w, as Anna Zborowska.
Pfannstiel 1956
Pfannstiel, Arthur. Modigliani et son œuvre. Paris: Bibliotèque des Arts, 1956. Monograph, no. 129 and 270, as Portrait de Mme Zborowska.
Modigliani 1958
Modigliani, Jeanne. Modigliani senza leggenda. Florence: Vallecchi Editore, 1958. Monograph, pl. 40, ill. in b/w, as Ritratto di Anna Zborowska.
Ceroni 1965
Ceroni, Ambrogio. Amedeo Modigliani: Dessins et Sculptures, avec suite du catalogue illustré des peintures. Milan: Edizioni del Milione, 1965. Monograph, no. 191, ill. in b/w, as Hanka Zborowska (sur un divan).
Ceroni 1970
Ceroni, Ambrogio. I dipinti di Modigliani. Milan: Rizzoli Editore, 1970. Monograph, no. 177, p. 97, ill. in b/w p. 96, as Hanka Zborowska seduta su un divano.
Model
loading
Record last updated April 7, 2026. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Modigliani Initiative. "Anna Zborowska, 1917 (ID 39)." In Amedeo Modigliani Digital Catalogue. catalogue.modigliani-initiative.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=39 (accessed on May 11, 2026).