Tango from The Drypoints of Elie Nadelman
Elie Nadelman
American, born Poland. 1882–1946
1951, published 1952
A drypoint print of two stylized figures engaged in a tango, where Nadelman reduces bodies to smooth, sculptural planes and rhythmic hatchwork to suggest movement and closeness.
What strikes you is the spare, carved quality—two flattened, curving profiles linked at the hands, their volumes defined by closely spaced diagonal lines that make the silhouettes feel both solid and subtly vibrating against the pale paper.
Nadelman’s pared‑down, folk‑inflected figuration translates his sculptural approach into print, helping to legitimize simplified, ‘primitive’ forms within mid‑century American modernism.
Medium
One from a portfolio of twenty-two drypoints
Dimensions
plate: 8 3/8 x 4" (21.3 x 10.1 cm); sheet: 14 x 9" (35.6 x 22.9 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Curt Valentin Bequest
Accession
115.1956.22
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
