Female Dancer

Elie NadelmanWW-1920-016264

1920·Bronze·82.6 × 43.2 × 19.1 cm (32 9/16 × 17 1/16 × 7 9/16 in.)

<p>“Is Nadelman serious?” asked a writer for the <em>New York World</em> in 1919. “Are these things art, or only insolence?” This indignation was sparked by Elie Nadelman’s choice to depict people in contemporary clothing rather than the classical drapery used by most sculptors at the time. Here, the woman’s short dress and high heels evoke modern city life during the Roaring Twenties with whimsy and charm.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1920
Medium: Bronze
Dimensions: 82.6 × 43.2 × 19.1 cm (32 9/16 × 17 1/16 × 7 9/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Elie Nadelman

Artist

Elie Nadelman

Sculpture

Elie Nadelman was an American sculptor born in Warsaw who developed a distinctive modernist vocabulary rooted in classical reduction and geometric abstraction. Working primarily in bronze, stone, and wood between the 1910s and 1940s, he created figurative works of extraordinary formal economy, distilling the human form into elegant, streamlined volumes. His sculptures and drawings synthesized influences from archaic Greek art, folk traditions, and contemporary avant-garde practice. Nadelman's work bridged European modernism and American sculpture, establishing a visual language that prioritized purity of line and mass over narrative or ornament.

Riverdale, NY, USA

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