The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan

c. 1910
(American, 1880–1965)
America, 20th century
ink and watercolor
Sheet: 22.5 x 14.1 cm (8 7/8 x 5 9/16 in.)
Gift of Zabriskie Gallery 1993.58
Location: not on view

Description

By dancing to the music of the great masters—Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schubert, Brahms, Scriabin, and Wagner—music that was considered "above" dance, Duncan elevated dance to a level of artistic appreciation it had not received since the days of the ancient Greeks. She stripped the staging down to a bare, curtained space, and the costuming to simple, flowing tunics, allowing movement and the music to be the focal point of her artistic statement. Enraptured by Duncan, Walkowitz made more than a thousand drawings of his subject. For him, "she had no laws. She did not dance according to the rules. She created. Her body was music."
  • Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).
  • {{cite web|title=Isadora Duncan|url=false|author=Abraham Walkowitz|year=c. 1910|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.58