Gender, Orientalism and the Jewish Nation

Women in the Work of Ephraim Moses Lilien at the German Fin de Siècle

Dr Lynne M Swarts author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:8th Apr '21

£26.99

Available for immediate dispatch.

Gender, Orientalism and the Jewish Nation cover

The first comprehensive study of E.M. Lilien’s portrayals of the fin de siècle Jewish women in Zionist art.

Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) was one of the most important Jewish artists of modern times. As a successful illustrator, photographer, painter and printer, he became the first major Zionist artist. Surprisingly there has been little in-depth scholarly research and analysis of Lilien’s work available in English, making this book an important contribution to historical and art-historical scholarship. Concentrating mainly on his illustrations for journals and books, Lynne Swarts acknowledges the importance of Lilien’s groundbreaking male iconography in Zionist art, but is the first to examine Lilien’s complex and nuanced depiction of women, which comprised a major dimension of his work. Lilien’s female images offer a compelling glimpse of an alternate, independent and often sexually liberated modern Jewish woman, a portrayal that often eluded the Zionist imagination. Using an interdisciplinary approach to integrate intellectual and cultural history with issues of gender, Jewish history and visual culture, Swarts also explores the important fin de siècle tensions between European and Oriental expressions of Jewish femininity. The work demonstrates 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.

Once you see what Swarts shows here, you’ll see an entirely new early Zionist culture. You’ll wonder why you never thought to ask the questions this book so deftly and convincingly answers. * Maya Balakirsky Katz, Bar-Ilan University Department of Jewish Art, Israel and editor Images: A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture *
Gender, Orientalism and the Jewish Nation: At the German Fin de Siècle widens our understanding of how artists at this period, in particular Ephraim Moses Lilien, used extensively portrayals of women to further the national goal of Zionism. By looking astutely at these images and seeing them within the social and historical context, Lynne M. Swarts has made a major contribution to the way gender and orientalism figured prominently in the building of a national idea. Her work, elegantly produced, deserves special recognition as she breaks new ground in thinking about the interrelationship between visual culture and historical phenomena. * Richard I. Cohen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, author of Jewish Icons. Art and Society in Modern Europe *
A sound and informative analysis of a rich subject. Although it has a strong academic basis, the book is approachable, with many specialist historical aspects outlined. The many illustrations give us a view of Lilien’s art and related images. * Alexander Adams Art Blog *

ISBN: 9781501374869

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 738g

368 pages