Lexington Books Where Is My Home?: The Art and Life of the Russian-Jewish Sculptor Mark Antokolskii, 1843 -1902

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. Review 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 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 About the Author Musya Glants is a fellow in the Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard University.