Ella Tulin, The Group, 1985, Bronze, Gift of Dorothy and Stanley Abelson 2019.1238

The Group, a bronze sculpture by artist and activist Ella Tulin, was recently donated to the Davis Museum by Dorothy and Stanley Abelson. The first work by Tulin in the Davis collections, The Group is typical of her organic bronze figurative sculptures. While she began her formal arts education as a painter, sculpture quickly became her main focus. Tulin studied studio art at American University, London Polytechnic Institute, and the Corcoran School of Art, and later in her career earned a master’s degree in art and art therapy at George Washington University. A founding member of Women's Strike for Peace in Washington, D.C., Tulin advocated for women’s rights, peace, and freedom. Her passion for equality and human rights eclipsed borders, as she travelled throughout the world to defend the disenfranchised.

Tulin conveyed her activism for women’s equality in her art. Her figurative works exalt the female form, emphasizing the beauty and the strength of the women represented. She once noted that her sculptures are a celebration of life, and she "…sculpt(s) women, earthy, vulnerable, open, sexy, joyful, pained and exuding life. The woman's pelvis cradles the world."[1] The Group is a two-part bronze comprised of eight women. Their bodies are modeled in varying degrees of relief, yet each figure has flesh and weight, delineated from the group in curved lines and masses. Here, Tulin honors the relationships between women and the joy found in a close-knit community.