Dancing Figure (1916–18): Art, History and Details

Dancing Figure (1916–18) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Elie Nadelman (American, born Russian Empire [now Poland], 1882–1946).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Dancing Figure displays the geometrically simplified forms and softened angles that are a hallmark of Elie Nadelman’s work. Its spiraling composition presents a woman whose body partially twists on bended knee. Her raised arms echo the position of her legs.

Object facts

• Title: Dancing Figure
• Date: 1916–18
• Creator attribution: Elie Nadelman (American, born Russian Empire [now Poland], 1882–1946)
• Culture: America
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 79.4 x 35.6 x 28 cm (31 1/4 x 14 x 11 in.)
• Collection: American - Sculpture
• Department: American Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1940.575

A detail from the museum

A larger version of this sculpture was originally conceived in limestone to decorate an outdoor garden in Long Island.

Collection credit

Bequest of James Parmelee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Solender, Katherine. The American Way in Sculpture, 1890-1930. Cleveland, OH: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.