Sophia Vari

by Justin Spring

Sophia Vari

Sophia Vari is an innovator in the world of classical modern sculpture. Not content with being a painter, she stepped into the three-dimensional realm, becoming a sculptor first in bronze, then in marble, and recently in the precious and semiprecious mediums of jewelry design. She has also discovered the powerful effects of her classical forms in monumental scale. In her work, she has been able to integrate the mental and the physical, cerebral and sensual, planar and volumetric--giving life, elegance and joy to a medium that often can be static.

This is the first major monograph of the work of this Greek artist, illustrating her art in every medium throughout her career and tracing her influences. Writer Justin Spring captures the forces that compelled Vari to become an artist, and offers her personal words to best explain her inspirations.

"My intent is to take geometry, volume, and shapes and humanize them in space," says Vari. This monograph is a stunning testament to her success.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 1999

About the author

Justin Spring is a New York based writer specializing in twentieth-century American art and culture. He is the author of many monographs, catalogs, museum publications, and books, including the biography Fairfield Porter: A Life in Art (Yale University Press, 2000) and Paul Cadmus: The Male Nude (Universe, 2002). He has been the recipient of a number of grants, fellowships, and awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and the International Association of Art Critics Best Show Award. He has held research fellowships from Yale University, Brown University, Radcliffe College and Amherst College. His monograph on Paul Cadmus was a finalist for the Lamda Literary Award in Art History.