Elie Nadelman and the Influence of Folk Art exhibit at Demuth Museum
The Demuth Museum’s current exhibition and accompanying catalogue bring together important pieces from the original folk art collection of Elie and Viola Nadelman and examine the influence of these works on Nadelman, the sculptor. Like other early American Modernists, Elie Nadelman looked to earlier art forms for inspiration and these links will be explored in this exhibit with the display of Nadelman’s own drawings and sculptures.
In forming their ground-breaking collection of folk art, the Nadelmans traveled throughout the East Coast and specifically Lancaster County for the best examples of American folk art. The two basic principles that framed their collection were: “folk art had intrinsic artistic value” and “folk art had importance in any total view of American Art.” By 1926 they found that their voracious habit of collecting was more than their private homes could accommodate and the Nadelmans opened the country’s first folk art museum. While their original collection was dispersed after the stock market crash of 1929, Elie Nadelman consistently returned to the folk art he collected for inspiration in materials and forms that defines his later body of work.
Executive Director Anne M. Lampe notes, “The Demuth Museum is well-suited to hold an exhibit that brings together for the first time folk art pieces from the Nadelman Collection along with Nadelman’s own original sculpture. The installation will juxtapose these two types of artworks, allowing our visitors to experience first-hand the artist’s integration of inspirations into his own artwork.” The exhibit will contain over 50 works by Nadelman and folk art examples.
Exhibition on view through December 30, 2010. Regular Museum Hours: Tues–Sat, 10-4 & Sunday, 1-4. Call (717) 299-9940 for more info.
Nadelman portrait.jpg (171 KB)
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