page_title: Josef Levi
section_title: Faces of two women
hierarchical_section_title: Josef Levi / Faces of two women
caption_attribution_description: English: Still life with Jane (2007); 50 x 37 in.
context_page_description: Josef Alan Levi is an American artist whose works range over a number of different styles, but which are unified by certain themes consistently present among them. Levi began his artistic career in the 1960s and early '70s, producing highly abstract and very modernist pieces: these employing exotic materials such as light fixtures and metallic parts. By 1975, Levi had transitioned to painting and drawing still lifes. At first these were, traditionally, of mundane subjects. Later, he would depict images from art history, including figures originally created by the Old Masters. Around 1980, he made another important shift, this time toward creating highly precise, though subtly altered reproductions of pairs of female faces which were originally produced by other artists. It is perhaps this work for which he is most well known. Since around 2000, Josef Levi has changed the style of his work yet again: now he works entirely with computers, using digital techniques to abstract greatly from art history, and also from other sources.
context_section_description: By 1980, Josef Levi's art had transformed into a very specific form: a combination of reproductions of female faces which were originally depicted by other artists. The faces which he reproduces may be derived from either portraits or from small portions of much larger works; they are taken from paintings of the Old Masters, Japanese ukiyo-e, and 20th-century art. Artists from whom he has borrowed include: Vermeer, Rembrandt, Piero della Francesca, Botero, Matisse, Utamaro, Correggio, Da Vinci, Picasso, Chuck Close, Max Beckmann, Pisanello, Lichtenstein. The creation of these works is informed by Levi's knowledge and study of art history.
  Levi pays great attention to the quality of his reproductions, and he must often employ magnifying glasses for the highly precise work. Levi, in general, carefully preserves the facial expressions of his subjects, and major facets of their appearance, e.g. what sort of clothing the women are wearing. In the generation of these pieces, however, fidelity is not absolute: colors are neutralized; scales are altered; angles are shifted. The two works are made to fit together comfortably in a larger composition, eschewing the landscapes and interiors which were their backgrounds before.
  Often the works combined are of very different sorts, and they create a strong contrast in the final piece. Still, the works may have much in common; perhaps both works are three-quarter poses, or the women share an expression. Through trompe-l'œil, Levi "unifies" the works and enhances the contrast, comparing the periods by, for example, the deterioration of the sources which marks their temporal origins. Indeed, Levi has stated that, for him, the similarities between the faces are more important than the differences, and particularly important is the constancy of formal aesthetics throughout the history of art. This is a major concept which he tries to communicate through his art.
  Josef Levi's paintings from this period are drawn, then painted on fine linen canvas on wooden stretchers. The canvas is coated with twenty-five layers of gesso in order to produce a smooth surface on which to work. The drawing phase takes at least one month. Levi seals the drawing with acrylic varnish, and then he may apply layers of transparent acrylic in order to approximate the look of old paintings. After the last paint is applied, another layer of acrylic varnish is sprayed on to protect the work.
caption: Still life with Jane (2007); 50 x 37 in.[11]
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