All the famous ones are here, including

 Diego Rivera and Moise Kisling, sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, dealers Paul Guillaume and Leopold Zborowski, poet Max Jacob and author Jean Cocteau, who comes across as the perfect snob -- elegantly dressed and aloof with a pinched mouth.The artist considered sculpture China bearing manufacturer his primary interest, although he stopped sculpting shortly after the beginning of World War I because of difficulties the conflict posed, the increased cost of stone and his failing health.
 Since Amedeo Modigliani rates right up there with Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Pablo Picasso as one of America's favorite artists, the traveling retrospective exhibition of his work at the Jewish Museum is drawing record crowds.Perhaps none were more equal than his female nude models, who look much the same in their fleshiness except for differences in their diagonal, languorous poses based on geometric forms.But it is the portraits -- more than 50 of them -- that demand the most attention.
This is the first major exhibition of the artist's work in New York since 1951.Organized by the Jewish Museum, where it is on view through Sept.). The show includes 25 sculptures dating from 1909 to 1915, mostly carved from limestone building blocks he scrounged from construction sites in Paris. The impassive expression of these faces is carried over into Modigliani's highly stylized portrait painting with faces that seem indifferent at first glance but still convey the personality of each individual.
All the famous ones are here, including several of pretty, blue-eyed young Jeanne Hebuterne, Modigliani's last mistress who killed herself and her unborn child the day after his death, and the more mature and assertive South African-born journalist Beatrice Hastings, another lover he painted as Madame de Pompadour. Although Modigliani was not a practicing Jew, he was proud of his Jewish cultural heritage and often introduced himself to strangers as "Modigliani, Jew.A study of Modigliani's life as a member of a privileged Italian Jewish community (he claimed descent from Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza) suggests that his portraiture reflected socialist egalitarian ideas he had espoused in Livorno, Italy, before going to Paris.com.

The house was taken away from the owner i

House infested with snakesREXBURG, Idaho, June 15 (UPI) -- Two sets of previous residents of a for-sale Idaho house said they moved out of the home for the same reason -- a snake infestation." Both sisters agreed the fight was sparked by their feud over the thermostat in their home -- Sales wanted the temperature to be 68, while Lupina preferred 67.The house is currently owned by a bank, which said contractors are sealing the foundation of the home in an attempt to keep the snakes out.The neighbors said the woman had lived in the home for years with her husband and teenage daughter."Both of them seemed ready to settle the issue in front of the thermostat," he said., June 15 (UPI) -- A 62-year-old Illinois woman who fought with her thin-wall bearing suppliers sister over a 1-degree difference in the setting of their home's thermostat has been acquitted by a judge.Naked baby pic reported as child pornLANDSKRONA, Sweden, June 15 (UPI) -- A sign bearing a nude picture of a graduating student as a toddler was reported to Swedish police for violating child pornography laws.Neal and Denise Ard said they bought the house, which was built in 1920 near Rexburg, in January 2006 and soon discovered hundreds of garter snakes living inside the walls, under the floors and all around the home, KSL-TV, Salt Lake City, reported Wednesday.Lupina claimed Sales shoved her away from the thermostat twice and punched her in the face, causing a black eye. Tuesday, The Detroit News reported Wednesday.
The house was taken away from the owner in a tax foreclosure in 2010 due to a failure to pay property taxes and a company called Angel Haus purchased it in an October 2010 county tax sale for $3,000, tax records indicate.Sister cleared in thermostat fightPLAINFIELD, Ill. Angel Haus officials could not be reached for comment, The Detroit News said.m."If a prosecutor feels the need to for us to look into this they only have to report it again," he told the Swedish-language Expressen daily.The Ards left the house in less than one year and it remained on the market until August 2009 when Ben and Amber Sessions moved in with their family. "I hope this is the last blowup."It's really hard to rest assured at night to not think you've got a snake in your bed with you or going to step on one when you get up," Neal Ard said..The couple said the real estate agent warned them about the non-venomous snakes, but they did not spot the reptiles until they surfaced later in the fall