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The Isadora Duncan belonging to Reynolda House Museum of American Art is typical of Walkowitz’s many depictions of her. A few black lines define the silhouette of her body while she remains faceless, arms uplifted. The most striking element in the image is the rendering of her garment: curving ink lines repeated to imply rhythmic movement. Here the lines are enhanced by watercolor and crayon-like washes of orange for the dress and pale yellow and pink tones for skin. She stands on a ground simply delineated by one arcing line, and the nebulous background consists of washes of green applied with an agitated motion. The sheet is signed at the bottom using the same ink with which he drew the lines of the figure; underneath, 1916, appears in graphite, suggesting it was inscribed at a different time.
The linear aspect of Isadora Duncan relates not only to Rodin’s drawings, but also to the work of Henri Matisse, which Walkowitz would have seen in Paris at the salons hosted by Gertrude Stein and her brother. The artist has reduced the image of the dancer to its barest essentials, yet still manages to capture the revolutionary nature of her interpretation. In both dress and gesture, Duncan imitated ancient Greek sculpture; she frequently wore a peplos, a flowing article of clothing with many pleats gathered at the midriff. In addition, she performed barefoot, another attribute that distinguished Duncan from conventionally attired ballerinas with their tutus and toe shoes.
Duncan (1877–1927) is credited with launching modern dance at the same time that visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic were seeking new directions. A Californian by birth, she displayed an early interest in dance and, by her twenties, became an expatriate, living a bohemian existence in Paris, where she performed to great acclaim. During World War I, she spent time in Brazil, and in the 1920s in Russia. She was tragically killed near Nice when the long scarf she was wearing became entangled in the spokes of the car in which she was a passenger. Carl Sandburg eulogized her in his poem Isadora Duncan:
The wind? I am the wind.
The sea and the moon? I am the sea and the moon.
Tears, pain, love, bird-flights?
I am all of them.
I dance what I am.
Sin, prayer, flight,
the light that never was on land or sea?
I dance what I am. [1]
Clearly captured by Duncan’s aura, Walkowitz explained, “She was a Muse. She had no laws. She didn’t dance according to rules. She created. Her body was music.” [2] Working largely from memory, Walkowitz suppressed details, which liberated him from the anecdotal and allowed him to elevate her. Many of his thousands of drawings were presented in a grid format—five across and four down to total twenty on a sheet—in emulation of cinematic frames which create a sense of movement as the eye traverses the page. He explained his methodology: “I never worked from posed models. I learned that when I visited Rodin’s studio. Rodin always had his models walk around. That’s the first principle of life: you must be free to see. … I always went to see Isadora Duncan when she had her recitals here. There was one in particular I remember at Carnegie Hall. It was with Walter Damrosch when she danced Beethoven’s Seventh. She was the body electric, the body as soul.” When Duncan saw an exhibition of the artist’s work in 1916, she commented: “Walkowitz, you have written my biography in lines without words.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Sandburg, Isadora Duncan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isadora_Duncan
[2] Walkowitz quoted in William Innes Homer, “The Watercolors of Abraham Walkowitz,” in Abraham Walkowitz (1878–1965): Watercolors from 1905 through 1920 and Other Works on Paper (New York: Zabriskie Gallery, 1995), 12.
[3] Walkowitz and Duncan quoted in Martica Sawin, “Abraham Walkowtiz,” Arts Magazine, March 1964, 45.
ProvenanceFrom 1976
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hirshhorn, October 1976. [1]
Notes:
[1] Reynolda House coversheet, object file.
Exhibition History2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2009
Stieglitz Circle: Beyond O'Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesSchiller, Joyce K. Woman's World, 1880-1920: From Object to Subject Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, 2000: 25.
DepartmentAmerican Art
Isadora Duncan
Artist
Abraham Walkowitz
(1880 - 1965)
Date1916
Mediumcolored crayon, watercolor, ink and graphite on paper
DimensionsFrame: 25 3/16 x 18 11/16 in. (64 x 47.5 cm)
Paper: 14 x 8 1/2 in. (35.6 x 21.6 cm)
SignedA. Walkowitz 1916
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hirshhorn in honor of Nancy Susan Reynolds
CopyrightCopyright Unknown - orphaned
Object number1977.2.1
DescriptionMany artists are known for their passions—Leonardo for science, Picasso for women, Matisse for color—but Abraham Walkowitz’s obsession with the celebrated modern dancer Isadora Duncan sets him apart from the others. Over his lifetime it is believed that he created five thousand images of her. During his stay in Paris 1906–1907, Walkowitz first met the dancer in the studio of Auguste Rodin, who served as a mentor for the American artist. Soon afterwards, Walkowitz saw Duncan dance and was enraptured by her naturalism and her sense of rhythm. The Isadora Duncan belonging to Reynolda House Museum of American Art is typical of Walkowitz’s many depictions of her. A few black lines define the silhouette of her body while she remains faceless, arms uplifted. The most striking element in the image is the rendering of her garment: curving ink lines repeated to imply rhythmic movement. Here the lines are enhanced by watercolor and crayon-like washes of orange for the dress and pale yellow and pink tones for skin. She stands on a ground simply delineated by one arcing line, and the nebulous background consists of washes of green applied with an agitated motion. The sheet is signed at the bottom using the same ink with which he drew the lines of the figure; underneath, 1916, appears in graphite, suggesting it was inscribed at a different time.
The linear aspect of Isadora Duncan relates not only to Rodin’s drawings, but also to the work of Henri Matisse, which Walkowitz would have seen in Paris at the salons hosted by Gertrude Stein and her brother. The artist has reduced the image of the dancer to its barest essentials, yet still manages to capture the revolutionary nature of her interpretation. In both dress and gesture, Duncan imitated ancient Greek sculpture; she frequently wore a peplos, a flowing article of clothing with many pleats gathered at the midriff. In addition, she performed barefoot, another attribute that distinguished Duncan from conventionally attired ballerinas with their tutus and toe shoes.
Duncan (1877–1927) is credited with launching modern dance at the same time that visual artists on both sides of the Atlantic were seeking new directions. A Californian by birth, she displayed an early interest in dance and, by her twenties, became an expatriate, living a bohemian existence in Paris, where she performed to great acclaim. During World War I, she spent time in Brazil, and in the 1920s in Russia. She was tragically killed near Nice when the long scarf she was wearing became entangled in the spokes of the car in which she was a passenger. Carl Sandburg eulogized her in his poem Isadora Duncan:
The wind? I am the wind.
The sea and the moon? I am the sea and the moon.
Tears, pain, love, bird-flights?
I am all of them.
I dance what I am.
Sin, prayer, flight,
the light that never was on land or sea?
I dance what I am. [1]
Clearly captured by Duncan’s aura, Walkowitz explained, “She was a Muse. She had no laws. She didn’t dance according to rules. She created. Her body was music.” [2] Working largely from memory, Walkowitz suppressed details, which liberated him from the anecdotal and allowed him to elevate her. Many of his thousands of drawings were presented in a grid format—five across and four down to total twenty on a sheet—in emulation of cinematic frames which create a sense of movement as the eye traverses the page. He explained his methodology: “I never worked from posed models. I learned that when I visited Rodin’s studio. Rodin always had his models walk around. That’s the first principle of life: you must be free to see. … I always went to see Isadora Duncan when she had her recitals here. There was one in particular I remember at Carnegie Hall. It was with Walter Damrosch when she danced Beethoven’s Seventh. She was the body electric, the body as soul.” When Duncan saw an exhibition of the artist’s work in 1916, she commented: “Walkowitz, you have written my biography in lines without words.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Sandburg, Isadora Duncan, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isadora_Duncan
[2] Walkowitz quoted in William Innes Homer, “The Watercolors of Abraham Walkowitz,” in Abraham Walkowitz (1878–1965): Watercolors from 1905 through 1920 and Other Works on Paper (New York: Zabriskie Gallery, 1995), 12.
[3] Walkowitz and Duncan quoted in Martica Sawin, “Abraham Walkowtiz,” Arts Magazine, March 1964, 45.
ProvenanceFrom 1976
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hirshhorn, October 1976. [1]
Notes:
[1] Reynolda House coversheet, object file.
Exhibition History2006-2007
American Watercolors: 1880-1965
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (7/1/2006-1/15/2007)
2009
Stieglitz Circle: Beyond O'Keeffe
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (6/6/2009-11/15/2009)
2021-2022
The O'Keeffe Circle: Artist as Gallerist and Collector
Reynolda House Museum of American Art (9/10/2021-3/3/2021)
Published ReferencesSchiller, Joyce K. Woman's World, 1880-1920: From Object to Subject Winston-Salem, NC: Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, 2000: 25.
Status
Not on viewcirca 1917
circa 1917
circa 1765