Mason Klein "Modigliani: Beyond the Myth" first edition 2004

Mason Klein "Modigliani: Beyond the Myth" prima editie 2004, Yale University Press.

Board covers, dust jacket, 241 pages.

Dimension 31x23 cm.

Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) is one of the greatest - and most misunderstood - artists of the 20th century. His incisive portraits, erotically charged nudes, beautiful drawings and primitivist sculptures have been admired for decades. Modigliani's work, however, has usually been examined within the narrow context of his so-called bohemian and anti-intellectual way of life. This groundbreaking book revises that approach to Modigliani's art, presenting a compelling revisionist examination of the unique historical, social, religious and cultural significance of his work. Modigliani: Beyond the Myth looks at the artist and his art from a variety of important perspectives: his proud Sephardic Jewish heritage, whose spirituality embraced non-Western, classical and Christian iconography while retaining its own ethnic identity; his critical engagement in dialogue with the most radical of his avant-garde contemporaries (Picasso, Soutine, Matisse and Brancusi); the influence of tribal art and of Judaism on his portraiture; the representation of the female nude in his work from a feminist cultural perspective; and the remarkable reception of his work in Italy during his lifetime