Ideal Head

Born in Poland, Elie Nadelman moved to Paris early in his career, where he met Pablo Picasso and studied ancient sculpture at the Louvre. This work, one of a series of idealized heads he made in this period, shows these various influences.

Its format and material recalls ancient classical statuary, while the simplified repeated curve in the brow and hair reflect Nadelman’s interest in abstract beauty: “all that is logical is beautiful,” he once proclaimed.