Marking: Foundry mark (back of base): Alexis Rudier
the artist, New York (1931–34; sold to MMA)
New York. Grand Central Art Galleries. "'The Races of Man' by Malvina Hoffman," January 30–February 24, 1934, no. 5 (as "Negro dancing girl, Sara tribe, Lake Chad District. Age 15").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Sculpture from the Collections of the Whitney Museum and the Metropolitan Museum," June 20, 1947–May 31, 1950, no catalogue.
Flint, Mich. Flint Institute of Arts. "American Sculpture, 1900–1965," April 1–25, 1965, no. 31.
Williamstown, Mass. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. "Cast in the Shadow: Models for Public Sculpture in America," October 12, 1985–January 5, 1986, no. 17.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Human Figure in Transition, 1900–1945: American Sculpture from the Museum's Collection," April 15–September 28, 1997, extended to March 29, 1998, unnum. brochure (as "Daboa [A dancing girl of the Sara Tribe, Lake Chad District, Africa]").
J[ohn]. G[oldsmith]. P[hillips]. "Statuettes by Malvina Hoffman." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (May 1934), p. 85, ill.
"55 Hoffman Sculptures Sold." Art Digest 8 (April 1, 1934), p. 18, calls it "Daboa, Dancing Girl of the Sara Tribe".
"Museum Acquires Rare Old Volumes." New York Times (March 11, 1934), p. 25.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Sculpture Renaissance: Season Has Brought Forth An Abundance of Plastic Work—Malvina Hoffman." New York Times (February 4, 1934), p. X12.
"Landscape at the Metropolitan." American Magazine of Art 27 (June 1934), p. 335, ill.
"Malvina Hoffman's 'Races of Mankind'." American Magazine of Art 27 (February 1934), p. 91 [on the "Races of Mankind" series in Exh. New York 1934].
"Hoffman Bronzes at Metropolitan." Art News 32 (June 2, 1934), p. 7.
"Malvina Hoffman Uses Art to Present Characteristics of the Races." Art Digest 8 (February 1, 1934), p. 10, ill. p. 2 (advertisement for Exh. New York 1934).
Jane Schwartz. "Around the Galleries: Hoffman Show a Great Success." Art News 32 (March 17, 1934), p. 20.
Malvina Hoffman. Heads and Tales. New York, 1936, p. 156, ill. p. 153 (unknown cast), calls it "'Daboa,' Dancing Girl of Sara Tribe, Lake Chad".
Carlyle Burrows. "Art of the Week: Some Notes on the New Summer Displays." New York Herald Tribune (June 22, 1947), p. C5.
Malvina Hoffman. Malvina Hoffman. New York, 1948, p. 63.
Albert TenEyck Gardner. American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1965, p. 160, ill.
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America. New York, 1973, pp. 326–27, ill.
Jennifer A. Gordon. Cast in the Shadow: Models for Public Sculpture in America. Exh. cat., Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, Mass., 1985, pp. 45–47, 83, no. 17, ill., dates it 1934.
Pamela Hibbs Decoteau. "Malvinia Hoffman and 'The Races of Mankind'." Woman's Art Journal 10 (Autumn 1989–Winter 1990), p. 10, fig. 2 (Field Museum).
Tracy Long Teslow. "Reifying Race: Science and Art in 'Races of Mankind' at the Field Museum of Natural History." The Politics of Display: Museums, Science, Culture. Ed. Sharon Macdonald. New York, 1998, pp. 53–75 [on the '"Races of Mankind" series].
Dena Merriam. "Coming Out of Storage at the Met: An Interview with Curator Lowery Stokes Sims." Sculpture Review 46 (Winter 1998), p. 23.
Joan M. Marter inAmerican Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Thayer Tolles. Vol. 2, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born between 1865 and 1885. New York and New Haven, 2001, pp. 733, 742–43, no. 372, ill.
Ed Yastrow and Stephen E. Nash. "Henry Field, Collections, and Exhibit Development, 1926–1941." Fieldiana. Anthropology no. 36 (September 30, 2003), pp. 133, 135.
Marianne Kinkel. Races of Mankind: The Sculptures of Malvina Hoffman. Urbana, Ill., 2011, pp. 62–63, 66, 119–20, 134, 138, 153, 192, 194, fig. 3.8 (life-size cast, Field Museum, Chicago), calls it "Negro Dancing Girl, Sara Tribe [Daboa]".
Sue Taylor. "Book Reviews: Representing Race." Art in America 99 (November 2011), p. 43.
Rebecca Peabody. "Race and Literary Sculpture in Malvina Hoffman's 'Heads and Tales'." Getty Research Journal no. 5 (2013), pp. 119–32 [on the "Races of Mankind" series].
Linda Kim. Race Experts: Sculpture, Anthropology, and the American Public in Malvina Hoffman's "Races of Mankind". Lincoln, Neb., 2018, pp. 101–3, 166, 331 n. 75, p. 333 n. 99, p. 348 n. 14, fig. 24 (Field Museum, Chicago).
This is one of 19 replicas, in reduced size, of a lifesize sculpture owned by the Field Museum in Chicago.
Malvina Cornell Hoffman (American, New York 1885–1966 New York)
ca. 1937
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