Reclining Nude
Elie Nadelman
American, born Poland. 1882–1946
c. 1917
A spare ink drawing of a reclining nude in which Nadelman pares the body to flowing, classical contours to explore a timeless, sculptural ideal.
Confident, economical pen strokes carve an elongated, flattened figure whose cross-hatched marks suggest volume while the wide expanse of blank paper makes the pose feel calm, monumental, and almost archetypal.
Made around 1917, the sheet shows Nadelman’s turn toward modernist simplification—melding classical sculpture and folk-inspired abstraction—to help redefine the language of the human figure in early American modernism.
Medium
Ink on paper
Dimensions
7 3/4 x 9 7/8" (19.8 x 25.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein in honor of René d'Harnoncourt
Accession
261.1969
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
