Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts

Provenance:

Richard York Gallery

Midtown Payson Galleries, New York

Private collection, New York

Known for his modern form of classicism, Elie Nadelman drew inspiration for his sculptures and drawings from a range of sources, including Hellenistic art, Italian Mannerism, Art Nouveau and American Folk Art. Born in 1882 in Warsaw, Poland, which was then under Russian control, the artist briefly attended the Warsaw Art Academy before volunteering to serve in the Imperial Army. After completing his military service, which consisted of teaching drawing and flute to the officers’ children, Nadelman returned to the Warsaw Academy for one year and subsequently received a prize for a drawing he had submitted to a magazine contest. With the prize money, the artist traveled first to Munich, and then settled in Paris by the end of 1904; he lived there until the outbreak of World War I, when he immigrated to the United States with assistance from the collector and cosmetics industrialist Helena Rubenstein.

It was in Paris that Nadelman’s artistic career blossomed. In addition to the inclusion of his works at the Salon d’Automne exhibitions of 1905 and 1906, his drawings and sculptures were selected for the 1907 Salon des Indépendants. Through these avenues, he became increasingly well-connected in the Parisian art community and was often present at the gatherings of Leo and Gertrude Stein, where he made the acquaintance of Picasso.

In the spring of 1909 Nadelman mounted his first solo exhibition at the Galerie Druet, which consisted primarily of idealized heads and full-length figures made in plaster. The show not only received acclaim from critics and collectors but also culminated in the artist’s relationship with the New York photographer and gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz. In the October 1910 issue of his journal Camera Work, Stieglitz published a statement by Nadelman in which the sculptor formulated his artistic concerns, declaring, “I employ no other line than the curve, which possesses freshness and force. I compose these curves so as to bring them in accord or opposition to one another. In that way I obtain the life of form, i.e., harmony.”[1] This reliance on the rhythmic power of the curve underpins the artist’s mature aesthetic and unifies the various stylistic elements incorporated within it.

Executed shortly after his arrival in the United States, Androgynous Head, Filet and Bow is a drawing of a Roman head in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which illustrates Nadelman’s continued interest in classically inspired motifs and themes. With eyes fixed downward and impassive lips, the figure’s countenance possesses the motionless severity characteristic of ancient Greek sculptures. The androgynous head’s wavy locks of hair, which are held back by a narrow strip of ribbon tied into a bow, are delineated in a schematic manner indebted to the work of artists like Praxiteles and Polykleitos. While Nadelman’s choice of subject and style explicitly refer back to a Greco-Roman heritage, his use of mannerist stylizations, such as the elongated neck, combines to form an entirely modern image. More interested in formal concerns than realistic depictions of subject matter, the artist simplified the details of the figure’s features to accentuate the plastic properties of line, shading and silhouette. An excellent example of the artist’s stylistic eclecticism, Androgynous Head, Filet and Bow ultimately evidences Nadelman’s desire to unite the timelessness of classicism with the new sensibilities of contemporary life.