Conceived in Paris circa 1912 and executed in bronze in an edition of at least 6, plus at least 1 marble example and at least 1 cherry wood example. This work was cast by Roman Bronze Works, New York, circa 1920.

Femme Drapée is a bronze cast by Roman Bronze Works in New York during the artist's lifetime; the foundry also notably partnered with Tiffany Studios and Frederic Remington. Another example from the edition is held in collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. The marble example is held in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The present work was included in a recent exhibition at Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut. Material Matters: The Sculptures of Elie Nadelman investigated the artist's experimentation in form across various mediums.

Elie Nadelman conceived the form of Femme Drapée while residing in Paris, 1904-1914, having arrived in the city in after completing studies in his native Warsaw and Munich. By 1912, Nadelman worked primarily in bronze, transforming his lyrical and curvilinear figure drawings into three-dimensional forms. As Barbara Haskell notes, these bronzes are "elongated, sinuous forms whose rhythmic grace and supple, twisted torsos recalled Giambologna's Architecture...as well as the Mannerist conventions of Michelangelo, Primaticcio, and El Greco - a resemblance not lost on the press, which compared his work favorably with that of these progenitors." Among the leading Parisian modern artists, additional comparisons can be made to Nadelman’s contemporaries. The artist’s material and formal explorations parallel the work of sculptor Constantin Brancusi and the elongated bodies of Amedeo Modigliani.

Nadelman enjoyed enormous success during these years in Paris, with solo exhibitions at the Galerie E. Druet and inclusion in many important group shows. Early support from important American art collectors Gertrude and Leo Stein, influential French writer Andre Gide, and famed photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz attested to this success and solidified his influence over a generation of emerging artists. Femme Drapée showcases Elie Nadelman's skill in adapting classical sculpture through a modernist lens. Nadelman explored the human form with an eye to geometric purity and underlying form, and discovered structures common to both Hellenic sculpture and American folk carvings. Nadelman's vision of bridging classical and modern styles aligned with the rising modernist movement.

[1] Barbara Haskell, Elie Nadelman: Sculptor of Modern Life, New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 2003, p. 55