A complex character. A pig and a pearl. Met in 1914 at a'cremerie'. I sat opposite him. Hashish and brandy. Not at all impressed. Didn't know who he was. He looked ugly, ferocious, greedy. Met again at the Cafe Rotonde. He was shaved and charming. Raised his cap with a pretty gesture' blushed to his eyes and asked me to come and see his work. Went. Always a book in his pocket, Lautreamont's Maldoror. Despised everyone but Picasso and Max Jacob. Loathed Cocteau.

From: Carol Mann, Modigliani, London and New York (Thames & Hudson) 1980, p. 106