Modigliani – Beyond the Myth (Jewish Museum) - Hardcover

Klein, Mason; Berger, Maurice; Braun, Emily; Garb, Tamar; Pollock, Griselda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030010264X ISBN 13: 9780300102642

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2004

Synopsis

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is one of the greatest - and most misunderstood - artists of the twentieth century. His incisive portraits, erotically charged nudes, beautiful drawings, and primitivistic sculpture have been admired for decades. Modigliani's work, however, has typically been examined in the limited context of his so-called bohemian, anti-intellectual lifestyle. This groundbreaking book revises this approach toward Modigliani's art, presenting a convincing revisionist examination of the unique historical, social, religious, and cultural significance of his oeuvre. Modigliani: Beyond the Myth looks at the artist and his art from a variety of important perspectives: his proud heritage as a Sephardic Jew, whose spirituality embraced non-Western, classical, and Christian iconography while retaining his own ethnic identity; his critical engagement with the dialogues of the most radical of his avant-garde contemporaries (Picasso, Soutine, Matisse, and Brancusi); the influence of tribal art and Judaism on his portraiture; the representation of the female nude in his works from a feminist cultural perspective; and the remarkable reception of his work in Italy during his lifetime. Lavishly illustrated and including a detailed chronology of his life, this fascinating book situates Modigliani anew in the history of twentieth-century art.

About this title

Review

'...a fascinating study fo Modigliani set in the context of 19th Century art...' -- Byron Ireland, Day by Day

'The new research and differing approaches....pass not so much 'beyond the myth' as into the realm of the verifiable' -- Quarterly Magazine, Autumn 2004

About the Author

Mason Klein is curator at The Jewish Museum, New York; Maurice Berger is senior fellow at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New School University, New York; Emily Braun is professor of art at Hunter College, City University of New York; Tamar Garb is professor of art history at University College London; Griselda Pollock is professor of social and critical histories of art at University of Leeds.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 030010264X
• ISBN 13: 9780300102642
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256