Martha, Martha, Martha!

Detail from Martha Graham in Letter to the World, No. 1. Photograph by Barbara Morgan. Reproduced with permission of Janet Morgan/The Barbara Morgan Archive. For further information e-mail morganarchives@gmail.com. Reproduced with permission of Martha Graham Resources, a division of The Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, www.marthagraham.org.

Selections from the Martha Graham Collection is a new web presentation now available in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia.

Dancer, choreographer, and company director Martha Graham (1894-1991) is considered one of the pioneering founders of American modern dance.  In a career spanning over seven decades, Graham developed her own innovative technique and produced an impressive legacy of 181 choreographic works.  This vast online collection follows  Graham’s work between 1918 and 1949, and offers a selection of materials related to it, including scrapbook clippingsconcert programs, and photographs.

Materials related to Appalachian Spring, which made its debut in the Coolidge Auditorium on October 30, 1944, are just one of the many highlights  of this new presentation. The selection includes classic images made by noted dance photographer Barbara Morgan, and images can also be found by such well known shutterbugs as Philippe Halsman and Andre Kertesz, as well as remarkable photos of  Graham’s work Lamentation by filmmaker Herta Moselsio, whose collection is housed in the Music Division.

Many thanks to curator Elizabeth Aldrich, the Network Development team, including Kevin Ford, Elizabeth Fulford Miller and Nathaniel Trail,  and the Scan lab, including Domenic Sergi, Joel Kaufman, and Michelle Minor, for their invaluable assistance on this project.

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