"Man with Top Hat," circa
1925-26. Galvano-plastique. Collection Richard and Camila
Lippe.
Elie
Nadelman:
By Stephen May
NEW YORK CITY - With more than 200 sculptures in bronze, marble,
wood, ceramic and plaster, plus works on paper and photographs,
this is the largest exhibition ever mounted of one of the greats
of American modernism and the first in New York in more than a
quarter century. Superbly organized by Barbara Haskell, the
Whitney's curator of early Twentieth Century art, "Elie Nadelman:
" will be on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art through
July 20.
The case for Nadelman's importance and the range of his
achievements should be notably advanced by this attractive
display. It traces the early influences on the Polish-born artist
of Greek sculpture, Gothic wood carvings, Art Nouveau and French
sculpture to the impact of American folk art and contemporary
life after Nadelman arrived in this country. "[I]n America,"
writes Haskell in the exhibition catalog, "Nadelman's work
blossomed as he began to create singularly fluid, stylized,
curvilinear sculptures in which the ancient and the modern merge
to form a brilliant new aesthetic."
The exhibition underscores Nadelman's synthesis of seemingly
opposing sources -- past and present, classical and folk,
traditional and modern, high and low -- and his gift for infusing
his sculpture with demonstrative qualities that are at once
accessible and refined.
Born in Warsaw, the youngest of seven children of a jeweler,
Nadelman (1882-1946) studied art in Warsaw and Munich before
relocating in Paris in 1905. A man of wide interests with an
inquiring mind, he familiarized himself with styles from
prehistoric times to the present, which he blended into his own
distinctive artistic personality.
His work during a decade in Paris melded classical Greek
sculptural ideas with French contemporary art. Thus, his serene
female heads of marble and bronze from this time suggest a
Twentieth Century look in an antique style. In several, variously
titled "Female Head" or "Ideal Head," classic women wear modish
turbans and expressions of amusement.
His first solo show at a Paris gallery in 1909, showcasing his
gifts for classical harmony and elegant refinement, caused a
stir. Nadelman further refined his ideas about the modernist
idiom as he hobnobbed with titans of European avant-garde around
the city. He became a regular guest at the Saturday evening
soirées hosted by the celebrated American expatriates Gertrude
and Leo Stein. Around this time Nadelman sculpted a fascinating,
chubby nude, "Standing Female Figure (Gertrude Stein)," circa
1908-09, now owned by the Whitney.
All ten of the classical marble heads from a solo exhibit at a
London gallery in 1911 were purchased by a fellow Pole, cosmetics
entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein. Believing that, as Haskell
writes, "Nadelman's sculptures embodied the image of beauty she
felt her products made possible," Rubinstein became his most
important patron. Eventually she installed his work in her home
and salons and used it in advertisements.
Early on, Rubinstein commissioned four draped female figures,
made of terra-cotta, engaged in such daily activities as bathing,
combing their hair and dressing. "The Four Seasons," 1911,
initially displayed in her New York beauty salon in 1916, are now
part of the large Nadelman collection of the New York Historical
Society.
Thus, the 32-year-old Nadelman was already well-known when he
arrived in New York in 1914. His first American works were
simplified tubular forms based on subjects from everyday life.
A little more than a year after coming to this country, art
impresario Alfred Stieglitz staged a solo exhibition for the
newcomer at his famed 291 gallery. Among the highlights -- then
and as displayed in the current show -- "Man in the Open Air,"
circa 1915, a wonderful bronze with a classical figure decked out
in a contemporary bowler hat and bow tie, and the classically
sleek bronze, "Horse," 1914, a model of economy of detail.
Following his early successes, Nadelman began to move in
fashionable New York social circles, where he found constant
inspiration for his witty works, as he did from images in popular
magazines and newspapers. He became a much sought-after artist,
swamped with portrait commissions.
Nadelman's status was greatly enhanced in 1919 with his marriage
to heiress Viola Flannery, which expanded his access to a heady
world of money and privilege. The couple entertained at their
East 93rd Street townhouse in Manhattan and later at
"Alderbrook," their country retreat in the Riverside section of
the Bronx.
The artist's passion for self-taught art, first developed in his
native Poland, increased with his discovery of American folk art.
With the help of his wealthy wife, he collected such work
voraciously, and incorporated folk elements into his own work.
From 1926 to 1936 they maintained the Museum of Folk and Peasant
Arts on their Riverside estate, but were forced to close it and
sell the collection to the New-York Historical Society during the
Depression.
This fascination for American folk work led to wood carvings to
which Nadelman applied gesso to suggest flesh and clothing. Some
of his most endearing, and enduring, art was created between 1920
and 1924, when he utilized simplified, curvilinear forms and
frozen, elemental gestures to give pieces a stylized solemnity
and timeless monumentality. Works of this period, such as "Host,"
"Orchestra Leader" and "Woman at the Piano," have a freshness,
immediacy and wittiness reminiscent of American folk sculptures.
Nadelman excelled at selecting subjects that allowed him to
capture an expressive moment in time and demonstrate his
commitment to the power of form. His affinity for popular art and
entertainment is suggested by works depicting dancers and
performers, such as "Dancer (High Kicker)," circa 1918-19, and
"Female Dancer," circa 1920. These animated figures are caught in
motion yet, thanks to their curves and convex forms, they retain
a grace and composure reflecting the artist's sense of formal
harmony.
The star of the show, "Tango," circa 1920-24, a tableau of
painted cherry wood, shows a suave, tuxedo-clad male and his
fashionably garbed, carefully coiffed female partner engaged in
the intricate movements of the dance. In a witty commentary on
modern society, the stiffness of the high society figures -- they
barely touch each other -- contrasts with the intimate and
normally sensual South American dance in which they are engaged.
It is a memorable, iconic image, owned by the Whitney.
"Orchestra Conductor (Chef d'orchestre)," circa 1920-24.
Stained, gesso and painted cherry wood. Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Joseph H.
Hirshhorn.
In the mid-1920s, Nadelman experimented with what he called
"galvano plastique" objects -- plaster genre figures whose
surfaces were electroplated with a thin veneer of metal, such as
"Man with Top Hat," circa 1925-26, and "Standing Female Figure,"
circa 1925-26. "The medium appealed to Nadelman," said Haskell,
"because of its potential for unusual finishes and its ability to
replicate bronze, which allowed him to make art that was populist
and affordable without being condescending -- an issue that
increased in importance to him as he became more committed to
folk art."
When the Depression wiped out Nadelman's fortune and forced him
to sell his beloved folk art trove, he began to withdraw from the
art world. His mood darkened as World War II engulfed members of
his family in Europe.
Perhaps to fill the void left by the loss of his folk art
collection, during the last decade of his life, Nadelman created
some 400 hand-size plaster, doll-like figurines, perhaps destined
for mass production. Combining classical motifs and everyday
poses and fashions, the cherubic quality and expressive gestures
of these improved objects reflect the artist's refusal to
separate high from low art. The large display of these untitled
late plaster figures in the current exhibition was conceived by
contemporary artist Kiki Smith to evoke their arrangement in
Nadelman's Riverside studio.
Virtually ignored by the art world, living in reduced
circumstances and in deteriorating health, Nadelman took his own
life in 1946.
His cause was promptly taken up by art writer and ballet leader
Lincoln Kirstein, who spent years studying and promoting
Nadelman's work. As Haskell wrote, "It is almost entirely due to
his [Kirstein's] advocacy that Nadelman's reputation has
flourished since his death."
The importance of that effort is amply demonstrated by curator
Haskell in this appealing and informative exhibition. It offers
visual documentation of her observation that "Nadelman created
sculpture possessing both the authenticity and vitality of
vernacular culture and the formal discipline and architectonic
clarity of classicism. In so doing, he took the classicist quest
for the timeless and the beautiful to a new plateau, creating out
of the subject matter of contemporary popular culture an art that
was outside the flow of time, uncontaminated by the contingencies
and constraints of temporality."
We are indebted to Haskell and the Whitney for mounting a show
that solidifies Elie Nadelman's standing as one of the most
important American sculptors working in the first half of the
last century.
The exhibition catalog, written by Haskell, is thorough,
insightful and attractive. It includes 150 illustrations in color
and 95 in black and white, an exhibition history, selected
bibliography and chronology. Published by the Whitney and
distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc, it sells for $39.95
(softcover).
The Whitney Museum of American Art is at 945 Madison Avenue at
75th Street in New York City. For information, 1-800-WHITNEY or
visit www.whitney.org.
