Dancer

American popular culture transformed the classical sculpting style that Nadelman brought from Europe. The artist reveled in vaudeville and the circus and fell in love with the simple shapes and sly humor of American folk art, which he smoothly integrated into his carvings. This work was likely inspired by a photograph of the vaudeville star Eva Tanguay demonstrating a high, split kick from her routine. It is as elegantly carved as an archaic figure of a temple dancer but still conveys the impudent energy of the can-can.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006