Elie Nadelman 1882 - 1946

Viola Nadelman (the artist's wife)
Alexander Racolin, circa 1955
Private Collection (by descent from the above)
Private Collection, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

(possibly) New York, Scott & Fowles, An Exhibition of Sculpture and Drawings by Elie Nadelman, February 1917

Lincoln Kirstein, Elie Nadelman, New York, 1973, no. 181, p. 305, illustration of another example pl. 55
John I. H. Baur, The Sculpture and Drawings of Elie Nadelman, New York, 1975, illustration of another example fig. 42, p. 52
Barbara Haskell, Elie Nadelman: Sculptor of Modern Life, New York, 2003, p. 85, illustration of another example fig. 82, p. 75
Suzanne Slesin, Over the Top: Helena Rubinstein: Extraordinary Style, Beauty, Art, Fashion, Design, New York, 2003, pp. 50-51, illustration of another example

Elie Nadelman arrived in Paris in 1904, quickly establishing himself within the art community and achieving his first success in 1905, when three of his drawings were accepted to the Salon d'Automne. In April 1909 Galerie E. Druet held a solo exhibition, where Nadelman's "radical simplification of form and stylized distortion of shape became a pulse point of debate about the future of sculpture, reportedly disturbing even Picasso and stimulating Amedeo Modigliani to turn temporarily to sculpture" (Barbara Haskell, Elie Nadelman: Sculptor of Modern Life, New York, 2003, p. 31). The exhibition was an overnight sensation, and Nadelman quickly captured the attention of the great art patrons Leo and Gertrude Stein as well as Alfred Stieglitz. The present example is likely a cast authorized by Nadelman's widow, Viola, soon after his death in 1946.