Gender, Orientalism and the Jewish Nation: Women in the Work of Ephraim Moses Lilien at the German Fin de Siecle

Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) was a significant Jewish artist of the modern era, and Lynne Swarts' book is an important contribution to historical and art-historical scholarship. Lilien's illustrations for journals and books, as well as his complex and nuanced depiction of women, offer a compelling glimpse of an alternate, independent, and often sexually liberated modern Jewish woman. Swarts also explores the important fin de siècle tensions between European and Oriental expressions of Jewish femininity, demonstrating that Lilien was not a minor figure in the European art scene but a major figure whose work needs re-reading in light of his cosmopolitan and national artistic genius.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 08 April 2021
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) was a prominent Jewish artist of the modern era, excelling as an illustrator, photographer, painter, and printer. He became a significant Zionist artist, and his work has received limited scholarly attention in English. Lynne Swarts' book is a valuable contribution to historical and art-historical scholarship, focusing on Lilien's groundbreaking male iconography in Zionist art while also examining his complex and nuanced depiction of women. Lilien's female images offer a captivating glimpse of an independent and sexually liberated modern Jewish woman, a portrayal that often eluded the Zionist imagination. Swarts employs an interdisciplinary approach, integrating intellectual and cultural history with issues of gender, Jewish history, and visual culture, to explore the fin de siècle tensions between European and Oriental expressions of Jewish femininity. The book demonstrates that Lilien was not a minor figure in the European art scene but a major figure whose work deserves re-reading in light of his cosmopolitan and national artistic genius.

Weight: 738g
Dimension: 154 x 228 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501374869