Standing Girl

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.