{"product_id":"master-of-the-two-left-feet-isbn-9780262047289","title":"Master of the Two Left Feet","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn account of the life and work of a once-famous self-taught American artist of the 1940s, and a study of how artists go missing from public memory.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe exhibition “Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered” at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, curated by the author and developed as an extension of the book, is on view from September 22, 2022 to January 27, 2023.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA garment worker and slipper manufacturer with no training in art, Morris Hirshfield was never expected to make history. Against all odds, his wildly stylized paintings of female figures, often nude, animals, and landscapes became internationally known in the 1940s. Admired by Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, and the French surrealists, his peak moment of visibility occurred in 1943, when the Museum of Modern Art mounted a one-man show of his work. The exhibition was widely reviewed—though mostly reviled—by the press, who jeeringly crowned Hirshfield “Master of the Two Left Feet” for his tendency to display the female body in that unorthodox fashion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter the artist’s death in 1946, his work was largely forgotten, but in \u003ci\u003eMaster of the Two Left Feet\u003c\/i\u003e, art historian Richard Meyer rediscovers Hirshfield for twenty-first-century audiences, offering full-color reproductions that capture the vibrant imagination and sheer visual pleasure of Hirshfield’s paintings. The book also features a catalog of works compiled by curator Susan Davidson which provides the most comprehensive documentation of the artist’s work ever assembled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTen years in the making, \u003ci\u003eMaster of the Two Left Feet\u003c\/i\u003e presents Hirshfield’s unlikely career as a painter not only as a missing episode in the history of twentieth-century art but as a case study of the ways in which artists go missing from historical knowledge and public memory. By looking closely at Hirshfield and his milieu in 1940s Brooklyn, Meyer demonstrates how much we have yet to learn, and to see, of the visual past.Introduction 8\u003cbr\u003e1 The Tailor 21\u003cbr\u003e2 The Slipper Maker 33\u003cbr\u003e3 The Dancer 49\u003cbr\u003e4 The Face 59\u003cbr\u003e5 The Unknowns 67\u003cbr\u003e6 The Modern Primitive 77\u003cbr\u003e7 The Surrealist 99\u003cbr\u003e8 The Heiress 121\u003cbr\u003e9 The Family 147\u003cbr\u003e10 The Museum 157\u003cbr\u003e11 The Nudes 173\u003cbr\u003e12 The Jewish American 183\u003cbr\u003e13 The Long Narrow Table 199\u003cbr\u003e14 The Mistake 211\u003cbr\u003eAfterword: The Seamstress 219\u003cbr\u003eEndnotes 225\u003cbr\u003eCatalog of Works 233\u003cbr\u003eby Susan Davidson\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgements 319\u003cb\u003eIncluded in the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e's BEST BOOKS OF 2022 SO FAR \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Superb.\"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e–\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The definitive book on the artist.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e– The Wall Street Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A labor of love by the show’s curator, Richard Meyer.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e– the New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Meyer elaborates the chief influence on Hirshfield’s art and its unwavering artifice...The book also contains a catalog of some 78 of Hirshfield’s paintings that is itself fascinating reading.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e–New York Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Morris Hirshfield, A Once Obscure Self-Taught Artist, Is Having A Major Resurgence.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e–ArtNews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eReviews of “Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered” at the American Folk Art Museum\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"Morris Hirshfield Rises Again: The paintings of this self-taught artist slipped from view after his death in 1946...an  extravagantly orchestrated exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum is one of the season’s best.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e– the New York Times \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"The American Folk Art Museum’s energising exhibition \u003ci\u003eMorris Hirshfield Rediscovered \u003c\/i\u003etells the story of a painter who found his calling late in life, was briefly hailed, then drummed out of the club of 20th-century American artists.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e–the \u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"\u003ci\u003eMorris Hirshfield Rediscovered\u003c\/i\u003e, at the American Folk Art Museum in New York, is a revelation. Hirshfield’s work is uncannily original, all the more startling for having been mostly unseen since the artist’s death in 1946. His story reflects the exclusivity of the art establishment and its tendency to sideline work by self-taught or unaffiliated artists.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e–\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \"Now \u003ci\u003eMorris Hirshfield Rediscovered \u003c\/i\u003eat the American Folk Art Museum allows us to see almost half of the works produced by this eccentric painter of wide-eyed cats, wildly patterned dogs, spotted sheep, caparisoned circus elephants, the occasional fierce tiger, exotic birds and a surprising number of voluptuous women, clothed and unclothed. Organized by the Stanford University professor of art history,  Richard Meyer, author of \u003ci\u003eMaster of the Two Left Feet: Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered\u003c\/i\u003e, the definitive book on the artist, the show is a retrospective of Hirshfield’s paintings—many unexpectedly large—loosely grouped into sections on animals, nudes and Jewish themes, plus a few landscapes and full-size preparatory drawings, sporadically contextualized by photographs.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e–the Wall Street Journal\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This biography of the self-taught painter Morris Hirshfield (1872-1946) is also a study of the vageries of artistic reputation.[…] Meyer situates Hirshfield’s idiosyncratic output in the popular imagery and fine art of the period, suggesting that he was savvier than his early admirers knew.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e–the New Yorker\u003c\/b\u003eRichard Meyer is Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor in Art History at Stanford University. He is author of \u003ci\u003eOutlaw Representation: Censorship and Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century American Art\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eWhat Was Contemporary Art?\u003c\/i\u003e (MIT Press) as well as coeditor, with Catherine Lord, of \u003ci\u003eArt and Queer Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, and coauthor, with Peggy Phelan, of \u003ci\u003eContact Warhol: Photography without End\u003c\/i\u003e.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233376219365,"sku":"NP9780262047289","price":59.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262047289.jpg?v=1767732377","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/master-of-the-two-left-feet-isbn-9780262047289","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}