Nadelman, Elie (1882–1946)

Polish-born sculptor, a US citizen from 1927. He is celebrated for his stylish, ‘tubular’ figures with doll-like faces and body parts that melt into flowing contours, as in Man in the Open Air about 1914–15 (Museum of Modern Art, New York).

Nadelman's first sculpture exhibitions, in Paris 1909 and New York 1914, caused a sensation in their espousal of a modernist approach. He evolved his ‘mannikins’ of burlesque queens, dancers, circus performers, and society ladies in the USA from 1914. Frequently satirical in tone, the figures derived from the artist's interest in paring down the human figure to a smooth, almost boneless, curvilinear essence. His work influenced art deco design and such US painters as Guy Pène du Bois (1884–1958).