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
