Standing Girl

Artist Elie Nadelman (American, born Poland, 1882 - 1946)

Dateca. 1918-1922

MediumCherry wood, gesso, and paint

DimensionsOverall: 30 3/4 × 12 1/4 × 5 3/4 inches (78.11 × 31.12 × 14.61 cm)

Credit LineGift of Julia and Humbert Tinsman

Object numberF91-62

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionFemale figure stands on a base with legs about 12 inches apart. short dress. left arm extended outward and her proper right arm rests on her proper right thigh. are painted white and she wears a hat.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Elie Nadelman is recognized as one of the pioneers of modern sculpture. Living in Paris for the decade before World War I, Nadelman associated with the early Cubist artists, but was also interested in other art such as Greek classical sculpture. Nadelman moved to New York in 1914 and became acquainted with the wealthy elite. At this time, he introduced into his own work stylistic elements commonly found in the American folk art that he collected. Standing Girl is an excellent example of his elegantly abstracted, curvilinear, carved wood images of society figures and circus performers. All detail is reduced to a minimum, and the figure is elegantly stylized.

Provenance

Michael Hall Fine Arts, New York, by 1970;

Purchased from Michael Hall Fine Arts by Mr. Humbert and Mrs. Julia Tinsman, Shawnee Mission, KS, 1970–1991;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1991.

Published References

Lincoln Kirstein, Elie Nadelman (New York: Eakins Press, 1973), 49 (repro.).

Alice Thorson, “A Modern Girl Moves into the Nelson,” Kansas City Star, May 31, 1992, J-1, J-6 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, “New At the Nelson: Modern Sculpture Added to Collection,” Calendar of Events (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), June 1992, cover, 2 (repro.).

Roger Ward, “Recent acquisitions of painting, sculpture, and decorative arts at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,” The Burlington Magazine (November 1995), 781–788, 786–87 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott and Martin L. Friedman, Modern Sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: An Anniversary Celebration (Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery Foundation, 1999), 11, 62.

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 175 (repro.).

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