Biography

Elie Nadelman was an American-Polish artist whose work married the genres of classical sculpture and folk art. His sculptures of women and animals combined soft stylization with the industrial aesthetic of bronze, stone, and hardwood. Born on February 20, 1882 in Warsaw, Poland, his artistic career was greatly influenced by his travels around continental Europe. Nadelman spent six months in Munich, where he studied classical works displayed at the Glyptothek and German folk art at the Bavarian National Museum. Shortly after, he traveled to Paris, exhibiting his work at the Salon d’Automne alongside Pablo Picasso. At the outbreak of World War I, he immigrated to the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, where he remained for the rest of his life. Nadelman died on December 28, 1946 in New York, NY. During his lifetime, the artist’s work was largely unknown, and was brought to public attention in 1948 with the retrospective “Elie Nadelman” at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Jewish Museum in New York and the Honolulu Museum of Art.