Edward Materson, Sculptor
Like many people watching Nadia perform during the 1976 Olympics, I was amazed and delighted. She seemed to move through the air with grace and magic.
At that time, I was just beginning to pursue sculpture, and my first thought was to capture her in clay for my own satisfaction. I made a small maquette and had it fired; tied a little ribbon in the pony tail and photographed it. It occurred to me that it would be nice to contact her and see if she would like to have it. As it turned out, correspondence was very slow. Quite a bit of time went by before I realized that in a communist country, the gift of a sculpture would not go directly to Nadia, but to the state. I decided to, at least, insist that I receive some word from her personally, which eventually I did in the form of a thank you letter. This was after I had re-created the sculpture as a two-thirds life-size piece in cold-cast aluminum. I also made a copy for myself which I still have which is heavier (resin and silica sand, patined dark).
The other caveat I made was that the Romanian government take care of the shipping costs. I had found that the expense would have been beyond my means and I also wanted to feel that they truly wanted the piece.
Eventually, one day we got a call from two people from the Romanian Embassy who had driven all the way to Maine from New York and were temporarily lost on the other side of our town. I directed them to our home and over refreshments we conducted the delivery of the sculpture.
After some time, I received a photograph from the Romanian Embassy showing myself and the two men who took possession of the sculpture. Later I received a document from the Romanian Federation of Sports which stated that the sculpture was installed in the Bucharest Museum of Sports and was admired by all who saw it.
Beyond that the only thing else I know about it was that a relative had talked to a woman who had been to Bucharest and remembered seeing it there.
The photo shown is a photograph of my copy of the sculpture. This version was displayed at the National Sculpture Society's 50th Anniversary Show in New York, in 1983.
Photo copyright Edward Materson, used with permission.
Sculpture copyright Edward Materson.
Editor's note: The present location of the 40" tall sculpture sent to Romania is uncertain. If anyone has any info on its whereabouts, please e-mail me.
