Home/Symbols/Compressed bow of lipsCompressed bow of lips SymbolismControlled emotion and reserve; a sealed, iconic mouth that resists portrait naturalism.Common ThemesThe divine & the sacredMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Medium reflexivity (art about art)Originality, authorship, and appropriationMortality & transience (memento mori)Beauty & the idealArtworks Featuring This SymbolTêteAmedeo Modigliani (1915)<strong>Tête</strong> distills a human face into an icon: an ovoid head, blade-like nose, tight bow of lips, and slitted, pupil-less eyes emerging from a dark, smoky field. Drawing on his sculptural idiom, Amedeo Modigliani fuses <strong>elegance and estrangement</strong> so the sitter becomes a universal sign rather than a likeness <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.
