Saturday, September 26, 2020

Two Circus Women - Nadelman


We just learned about the Detroit Zoo's Rackham Fountain by Parducci.

Another famous American Sculpture is Two Circus Women by Elie Nadelman in New York in 1930.

In America in the 1900s a lot of sculptors came from Europe to get away from World War I, and to try and earn money by making sculptures.

Eli Nadelman was born in Poland in 1882, and became a famous sculptor there, even meeting with famous artists like Picasso.

In 1914 he left Poland and moved to America to get away from the war, and made many famous sculptures.
He also collected sculptures from other artists and made his own Museum of Folk Arts in Riverdale New York.

When the Great Depression hit, he had a very hard time making money, and when he had to sell his Museum and art studio many of his sculptures were destroyed.

A while after his death his art was rediscovered and many of his sculptures have been copied and remade around the country.

His sculpture of Two Circus Women was made in 1930, out of paper mache over plaster.
Plaster is kind of like cement, and paper mache is like paper covered in glue that is stuck on top of the plaster to decorate it.

Nadelman tried to make the circus performers look big and round, but not with very clear scultpure of their face.
It was not a very famous statue at the time, but later on it was copied and remade into a big marble statue and put at the famous New York State Theater.


(from: wikipedia - elie nadelman)


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