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NUDES
An Artist’s Inquiry, 1962–2012
By Eli Levin

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Eli Levin is best known for his second generation Social Realist paintings. These have often included nudes, as for example in striptease scenes and images of gender politics. Throughout his career he has painted nudes in many other contexts as well. In this book Levin presents an extended meditation on the practice of painting nudes. In his introduction he discusses the many reasons nudes have been painted, citing both famous and forgotten examples. He considers modern criticism from Feminists and recent theories that deconstruct the “Male Gaze.” Captions to the images develop themes in the introduction and provide personal anecdotes from Levin’s life and career.

The 144 color images of his paintings that feature nudes are culled from a fifty-year period of work. The images are grouped into five sections, largely chronologically: Disturbing Nudes, Mostly Couples, Nudes from Life, Myths, and Contemplative Nudes. He also offers numerous images of relevant nudes from the history of art with informative captions. As a boy, Levin lived with his parents in a nudist colony near Chicago. During his teenage years and as a young man he studied drawing and painting from nude models. Three of his teachers in New York—Phillip Reisman, George Grosz, and Raphael Soyer—were Social Realists known for their figurative work. He served as the daily monitor of Soyer’s figure-drawing group for two years, and later studied anatomy with Robert Beverley Hale at the Art Student’s League.

Eli Levin is one of New Mexico’s best-known living, working artists. Starting his career in Santa Fe in 1964, he became recognized for his paintings of local night life. While returning often to his Social Realist roots, his work has also explored mythology, still life, landscape and the nude. The son of novelist Meyer Levin, he has written art reviews and taught art history. He initiated two of Santa Fe’s enduring artist’s gatherings, a model drawing group that has met since 1969 and The Santa Fe Etching Club, established in 1980. Levin has Master’s degrees from Wisconsin University and St. John’s College. He continues to paint independently of the major art currents. He is also the author of Santa Fe Bohemia, The Art Colony, 1964–1980, Why I Hate Modern Art, and Disturbing Art Lessons, all from Sunstone Press.


Hardcover:
8 1/2 X 11 Illustrated, Color
ISBN: 978-1-63293-183-2
270 pp.,$60.00

Softcover:
8 1/2 X 11 Illustrated, Color
ISBN: 978-1-63293-182-5
270 pp.,$50.00


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