Where Is My Home?
The Art and Life of the Russian-Jewish Sculptor Mark Antokolskii, 1843–1902
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published:19th Nov '10
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Where Is My Home?: The Art and Life of the Russian-Jewish Sculptor Mark Antokolskii, 1843–1902 is the first full-length study in English of the art and life of Mark Antokolskii, the widely recognized Russian and European sculptor of the late 19th century. An originator of novel trends in sculpture in its transition to modernism, Antokolskii was the first artist of Jewish origin to attend the Academy of Art in St. Petersburg and to become an honorable member of the Russian and Western intellectual milieu. Participating in many International World Exhibitions, he received numerous awards, including the Legion d'Honneur (1878, Paris). Antokolskii was a member of many European academies of art, and his works are in museums and private collections worldwide. Where Is My Home? focuses on Antokolski's artistic uniqueness and his fate as a Jewish intellectual who belongs to distinct cultures. Musya Glants pays particular attention to Antokolski's constant struggle between his devotion to Russia and the lifelong commitment to his people. This opens ways to discuss less known aspects of the notions of national identity and spiritual duality. It is an attempt to give an account of the artist as a notable Jewish social and cultural figure, a thinker and essayist whose art reveals his longing for people's reconciliation and overcoming of historical alienation.
In this first full-scale scholarly biography of the Russian-Jewish sculptor Mark Antokolskii, Musya Glants blends the formal skills of an art historian with deep sensitivity to both Russian and Jewish history. Where is My Home? makes a compelling case for Antokolskii’s art and life as emblematic of the turbulent Russian-Jewish encounter. -- Benjamin Nathans, author of Beyond the Pale: The Jewish Encounter with Late Imperial Russia
This is a book long overdue, an important event in the ongoing process of reestablishing the boundaries of Imperial Russian culture after Soviet ideology's demise. Mark Antokolskii was one of the few 19th century Russian artists who enjoyed international fame and whose sculpture was considered equal to that of his European contemporaries. This is a moving case study of the power of racial and religious intolerance to color the reception of art and the way its history is written. -- Wendy Salmond, Chapman University
This important book thus offers enlightenment and assistance, not only to art historians interested in Russian art and nineteenth-century sculpture, but also to the rapidly growing community of historians exploring Russian and Russian Jewish cultural history and its politics of visual communication. * Slavic Review *
Where is my Home? is a cry from the heart that evokes centuries of Jewish exile in hostile environments....Glants’s book is more than a sensitive portrayal of a Russian Jewish artist. It is a poignant and compelling attempt to grapple with the human condition. * The Russian Review *
- Winner of 16.
ISBN: 9780739132999
Dimensions: 246mm x 168mm x 29mm
Weight: 778g
410 pages