Malvina Hoffman

Malvina Cornell Hoffman

Born 1885, New York, NY

Died 1966, New York, NY

 

In 1930, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago commissioned Malvina Hoffman to travel the world and model the racial types she encountered.  After five years, the results of her trip were shown in Races of Man, a landmark exhibition of one hundred figures.  Hoffman tried to capture the moment at which each subject represented the individual characteristic of his race.  This sculpture was modeled in the village of Den Pasar from the temple dancer, Ni Polog, in 1932.

 

Bali Dancer

Gilt bronze, 1932

Height: 17 in.

Signed: © MALVINA HOFFMAN

Founder’s mark: ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N.Y.

S.1936.086