Modigliani: Beyond the Myth »

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, Chaim Soutine, Henri 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.

Author Biography: 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.

This book is the catalogue for a major exhibition at The Jewish Museum, New York (May 21 to Semptember 19, 2004); the Art Gallery of Ontario (October 23, 2004 to January 23, 2005); and the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (February 19 to May 29, 2005).

Library Journal

In this catalog for the Modigliani exhibition at New York's Jewish Museum the first in the city since 1951 curator Klein and art historians Griselda Pollock and Tamar Garb aim to overturn the myth of Modigliani the bohemian artist by turning away from traditional biographical interpretations. Klein examines Modigliani as an Italian Sephardic Jew shaped by his republican, liberal, and humanist background. He views Modigliani's portraits as pluralist, showing the diverse ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds of the sitters and, in turn, broadening the definition of what it was to be European around World War I. Garb focuses on the tension between the generic and the specific in the masklike qualities of Modigliani's portraits, while Pollock points out that the artist's nudes do not refer to his personal, social, or sexual world and are thus atypical of his milieu. For its fresh, revisionist interpretations as well as its fine reproductions and thorough chronology this book is highly recommended for academic and art libraries. Sandra Rothenberg, Framingham State Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.