NADELMAN, ELIE

born Feb. 20, 1882, Warsaw died Dec. 28, 1946, New York City sculptor whose mannered, curvilinear human figures greatly influenced early 20th-century U.S. sculpture. Nadelman left home at 19 and, after brief attendance at the Warsaw Art Academy, spent six months in Munich studying the city's art collection. In 1903 he was in Paris, where he worked independently but was influenced by Rodin. In 1905 Nadelman began his analysis of the relationship between sculptural volume and geometry. His research culminated in the series of drawings Toward a Sculptural Unity (published 1914). His first one-man show in Paris (1909) was a sensational success, as was his 1915 exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz' gallery. At this time he began making his characteristic humorous manikinse.g., Man in the Open Air (c. 1915; Museum of Modern Art, New York City)which were possibly influenced by the doll collection he had once studied in Munich's Bayerischen Nationalmuseum. In his late work he turned from humour and caricature to a decorative commercial style. A sensitive portraitist and masterful architectural sculptor, Nadelman worked in his last decade on small-scale sculpture fitted to modern domestic living.