Elie Nadelman, born Warsaw, Poland - Head #9 - unknown - T-Shirt

Elie Nadelman's Head #9 is a light pencil study of a single face with lowered eyes, simplified contours and hair falling in soft waves.

Visual Elements & Composition

The drawing is rendered in graphite grey on parchment cream, and the cream dominates the sheet. A few curved strokes mark the closed eyes, while the nose and mouth are reduced to minimal lines. The face sits inside a clean oval, and a single continuous contour describes the jaw and neck. The hair is drawn in sweeping strokes that rise above the brow and fall around the sides of the head. Much of the surface is left blank, and small marks at the lower right read as a notation rather than part of the figure.

Meaning & Symbolism

The subject is the human head treated as a study of form rather than a portrait of an individual. The closed eyes and unbroken features give the face a quiet, inward expression. By keeping the contours economical and the surface nearly empty, Nadelman isolates the essential shape of the head. Born in Warsaw in 1882, he worked in Paris before settling in the United States, and he is known chiefly as a sculptor. His drawings of heads share the smooth contours and reduced anatomy of his sculpture, and studies like this one show how he worked through a form on paper before carrying it into three dimensions.

Wearing the Study Across the Chest

This drawing has a clear central figure surrounded by open space, so it reads as a single image rather than a busy pattern. The oval of the head and the flowing hairline carry across the front of the shirt, where the pale, restrained palette stays easy to see at a glance. Its quiet, uncluttered composition suits a plain tee, letting the printed study stand on its own.