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Malvina Hoffman
Nijinski Dance Ballet Russes American French Woman Sculptor early 20th Century
1912

$36,000List Price

About the Item

Nijinski Dance Ballet Russes American French Woman Sculptor early 20th Century , Bronze 12 1/2 “ x 6 1/4” H x 6” W Sculpted c. 1912 while Hoffman with studying with Rodin. In 1912 she won First Prize the Paris Salon for her new modern way of sculpting movement in bronze with Russian Dancers (Anna Pavlova). Hoffman was the first, other followed her style. About the sculpture Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950). This bronze is a study from the dance L’apres-midi d’un faune (1910) with music by Debussy. It was a scandalous ballet performed with the Ballet Russes and Paris was in an uproar over his new modern style of choreography and overt sexuality. At the end of the ballet after toying with some nymphs Nijinski pleasures himself on stage with one of their scarves creating the scandal. Paris was in an uproar. Nijinski begged Auguste Rodin to help him calm the critics. Rodin who was known for his eroticism, wrote a letter to the editor of Le Figaro explaining how great Nijinsky danced and exploded into well… you know. Anyway the French public now turned their energy against Rodin, forgetting Nijinsky. France was negotiating with Rodin to purchase his studio which would become the Musee Rodin after his death and they almost shut those talks down because of his letter to the editor. Sculptor Malvina Hoffman was in the middle of all this. She was Rodin’s protege and friend. Hoffman adored Nijinsky and created this bronze. Hoffman’s life was dedicated to dance until her death in 1966. She and Anna Pavlova (Nijinsky’s friend since the Imperial Ballet school) collaborated together and created a large body of work, until Pavlova’s untimely death in 1931. Nijinsky was molested by Sergei Diaghilev while a dance student in the Imperial Ballet School and Diaghliev was the same person who owned the Ballet Russes, and hired Nijinsky. He continued a relationship with the dancer while in the company. Eventually, Nijinsky went mad from being under the direction of his abuser and spent most of his short adult life in an asylum for schizophrenia. He did quickly marry a young ballerina when he joined the Ballet Russes, but it was too late for him emotionally, and it was then, Diaghilev dismissed him from the company. Nijinsky was one of the greatest dancers and choreographers of his time and changed the look of ballet forever. Bio Born in New York City, 1885, Malvina Hoffman was a sculptor of pieces that expressed the fluid movement of dancers and lofty human values. She became a favorite sculptor for private collectors and her non commission work included Ignacy Paderewski, Anna Pavlova, Wendell Wilkie and Katharine Cornell. Hoffman carved pieces in stone, and some of them were enormous in scale including war monuments. Her masterpiece is considered The Races of Man, the largest bronze commission in art history where she was also the highest paid artist ever , 1930- 1933. It was awarded by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. It had one-hundred five separate pieces, cast in bronze, depicting people from diverse cultures. She was followed by media around the world during the three year global commission Hoffman grew up in an art-oriented environment in Manhattan where her father was the pianist and composer for the New York Philharmonic for 30 years. Music filled the house. She attended the Brearley School and took private art classes, first studying painting with John White Alexander. Changing to sculpture, she did her first work in 1909, a portrait bust of her father who died that year leaving the family in financial straits. However, his portrait was accepted for the National Academy of Design's annual exhibition and launched her career. She studied with Herbert Adams and Gutzon Borglum in New York and in Paris in 1910 with Auguste Rodin from whom she learned naturalism and whose doorstep she sat on until he agreed to see her. Rodin depended on her as a friend, and she helped catalog his work. After his death, Hoffman installed the first Musee Rodin. In Paris, she associated with numerous leading intellectuals including Gertrude Stein, Henri Matisse, Dali and Anna Pavlova, and her bronze sculptures of Pavlova, Russian prima ballerina , won her much attention and many commissions. The 1915 New York Times art critic compared Hoffman’s study of movement and musculature with Pavlova to Michelangelo and Rodin. He suggested Hoffman’s 26 panel bas relief frieze of the Bacchanale was a masterpiece.

Creator:
Malvina Hoffman (1887 - 1966, American)
Creation Year:
1912
Dimensions:
Height: 13 in (33.02 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)Depth: 6 in (15.24 cm)
Medium:
Bronze
Movement Style:
French School
Period:
1910-1919
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU1156210072232

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