Sculpting a Life: Chana Orloff Between Paris and Tel Aviv

The first biography of sculptor Chana Orloff.

In Sculpting a Life, the first book-length biography of sculptor Chana Orloff (1888-1968), author Paula Birnbaum tells the story of a fiercely determined and ambitious woman who fled antisemitism in Ukraine, emigrated to Palestine with her family, then travelled to Paris to work in haute couture before becoming an internationally recognized artist. Against the backdrop of revolution, world wars, a global pandemic and forced migrations, her sculptures embody themes of gender, displacement, exile, and belonging. A major figure in the School of Paris, Orloff contributed to the canon of modern art alongside Picasso, Modigliani and Chagall.

Stories from her unpublished memoir enrich this life story of courage, perseverance, and extraordinary artistic accomplishments that take us through the aftermath of the Holocaust when Orloff lived between Paris and Tel Aviv. This biography brings new perspectives and understandings to Orloff's multiple identities as a cosmopolitan émigré, woman, and Jew, and is a much-needed intervention into the narrative of modern art.


Author: Paula J. Birnbaum
Publisher: Brandeis University Press
Published: 02/07/2023
Pages: 440
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.65lbs
Size: 8.60h x 6.50w x 1.90d
ISBN13: 9781684581139
ISBN10: 1684581133
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Artists, Architects, Photographers
- Biography & Autobiography | Women
- Art | Sculpture & Installation

About the Author
Paula J. Birnbaum is the academic director of the Museum Studies Master of Arts Program and professor of art history and museum studies at the University of San Francisco. She is a specialist in modern and contemporary art. Birnbaum is a former Fulbright Scholar and fellow at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford University. She is the author of, among other works, Women Artists in Interwar France.