4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2017.

Dancing Figure (Artemis)

Artist Elie Nadelman (American, 1882 - 1946)

CultureAmerican

Dateca. 1916-18

MediumLimestone

Dimensions45 x 19 x 15 1/2 in. (114.3 x 48.3 x 39.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.1079

Collections

American Art before 1945

On View

On view

DescriptionThis is a limestone figure of a dancing woman. Her hair is short with well-formed curls close to her head. She wears only a pleated skirt with sash, and two ornamental bands on her calves. Kneeling on her left knee, she strikes a dance pose with her arms bent at the elbow, poised upward.

Label TextElie Nadelman American, 1882–1946 Dancing Figure (Artemis), ca. 1916–18 Limestone Looking over her shoulder, a kneeling woman’s body forms a graceful upward spiral. Sculptor Elie Nadelman often attended dance performances, and this pose may be a frozen moment he observed on a New York stage. In her simple, classical costume, with stylized pleats and folds, she may be performing the role of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt. Nadelman eventually had at least six versions of the design cast in bronze, but he carved this original limestone to decorate a garden in stockbroker William G. Loew’s Long Island estate. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.1079 ProvenanceWilliam G. Loew, Old Westbury, Long Island, N.Y.; Parke-Bernet, Sale No. 455, January 1951, Sale of the estate of William G. Loew; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to The Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"The Sculpture and Drawings of Elie Nadelman," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., September 23 - November 30, 1975; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., December 18, 1975 - February 15, 1976. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "Elie Nadelman: Classical Folk," American Federation of Arts tour: McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Tex., June 8 - September 2, 2001; Frick Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pa., September 21 - December 16, 2001. Published ReferencesDennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 201. _The Sculpture and Drawings of Elie Nadelman_, exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, N.Y., 1976, 66-67, no. 60. _The Chrysler Museum: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Norfolk, Virginia_ (Norfolk: Chrysler Museum, 1982), 99. ISBN: 0-940744-37-6 Suzanne Ramljak, _Elie Nadelman: Classical Folk_, exh. cat., American Federation of Arts, 2001, plate 14. ISBN: 1885444214 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 154-155, no. 96. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6