Woman with Poodle

Maker Elie Nadelman (American, 1882 - 1946)

Collections

ClassificationsSCULPTURE

Dateca. 1914-1915

Mediumcarved wood relief on separate mount

Dimensions11 1/2 x 15 x 2 in. (29.2 x 38.1 x 5.1 cm.) base: 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 3 3/8 in. (1.9 × 56.8 × 8.6 cm.)

DescriptionEarly modernist American sculptor, draughtsman and collector of Polish birth, Elie Nadelman studied briefly in Warsaw, then made his way via Munich to Paris, where he lived from 1904 to 1914. While in France, he socialized with important members of the avant-garde, including Leo Stein, who brought Pablo Picasso to Nadelman's studio in 1908. By 1910, Nadelman was sufficiently established as a modernist eminence to be invited by Alfred Stieglitz to publish an article about his own work. Three years later, one of Nadelman's sculptures and twelve of his drawings were included in the Armory Show, the first large-scale exhibition of European Modernism in America. Though affiliated with the avant-garde, Nadelman did not see art of the past as a threat or obstacle to innovation. He considered classical precedents as a source of energy and ideas, integrating elements from a variety of styles including art nouveau, primitive art and cubism. During his time in France, he created sculpture and drawings that used fragments of the past to create a modern vision that was at once contemporary and timeless. By the time he left Paris for New York in October 1914, Nadelman was beginning to be recognized as one of the master sculptors of the new century. Already well known when he arrived in America, he was well received both by the traditionalists, who were adamantly opposed to the modern movement, and by the modernists, who were just beginning to gain public recognition. Welcomed by both High Bohemia and High Society, Nadelman drew his themes from the life he witnessed in New York - dancers and singers, society hostesses and circus performers, orchestra conductors and gentlemen in formal wear. He became fascinated by American folk art that inspired his series of satirical figures of entertainers and socialites made of polychromed wood that he began around 1917. After marrying a wealthy widow in 1919, Nadelman set up a studio with three assistants to do much of his preliminary carving, and he and his wife formed a significant collection of American folk art. Based on the classical boudoir theme, the bas-relief Woman with Poodle simultaneously refers back to Nadelman's classical works of 1906-1909 and looks forward to his witty, carved wood figures of the late 1910s and early 1920s. Curving lines of arms and legs, linens and curtains move through the composition with sweeping force, the artist's discerning hand evident in the working of the wood of this unique piece.

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors' Council, Kelvin Davis, Kelsey Hall, Marie and Barry Herlihy, Margery and Maurice Katz, Hannah and Russel Kully, the Connie Perkins Endowment, the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation, and Joan and David Traitel

Label TextElie Nadelman carved Woman with Poodle shortly after settling in the United States following a 10-year stay in Paris; there, he was part of the avant-garde social circle of American expatriates Gertrude and Leo Stein, which included Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Woman with Poodle demonstrates Nadelman's debt to classical relief sculpture in its subject and in the stylized rendering of the bed, the women's hair, and the poodle's mane. However, the attenuated forms of his figures and the emphasis on the energetic curving lines of arms, legs, and linens are undeniably Modernist.
Nadelman was born in Poland and studied sculpture in Paris from 1904 to 1914. One of his sculptures and twelve drawings were exhibited at the controversial 1913 Armory Show, and the influential American photographer and tastemaker Alfred Steiglitz asked Nadelman to write an article about his work. After Nadelman moved to New York, he became one of the leading Modernist sculptors in the United States.

Status

On view

Object number2004.9