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Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens

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Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens

Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon, Athens

Artist Edward Jean Steichen (American, 1879-1973)
Date1921
Dimensions19 3/4 x 14 3/16 in. (50.2 x 36 cm)
Mediumgelatin-silver chloro-bromide print
ClassificationPhotographs
Credit LineGift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society
Object number
2002.13
Not on View
Label TextIn this dramatic image, the monumental columns of the ancient Greek temple the Parthenon tower above the “Mother of Modern Dance,” Isadora Duncan (1877–1927), who still manages to convey a presence as powerful as the architecture around her. Edward Steichen, had long advocated for the elevation of photography to a fine art. In his early career he championed Pictorialism, taking dreamlike, soft-focus photographs with aesthetic qualities similar to paintings. Isadora Duncan in the Parthenon is Steichen’s last great image in this style, before he turned to artistic fashion photography for Vanity Fair and Vogue in 1922. Steichen later described the occasion of the photograph: “…we went around to the portico with its line of columns. [Isadora] removed her cloak and stood there in her Greek tunic. And here she contributed what only an artist like Isadora could contribute. She made a gesture completely related to the columns.”Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 307, repr. (col.).

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 2 and 50, repr. (col.).

Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2010, p. 35, repr. (col. ) p. 35.

Exhibition HistoryToledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Being Modern: Fashion, Art & Identity Sept. 2 - Nov. 27 2005.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Inspired Giving: The Apollo Society 25th Anniversary Exhibition, October 15, 2010-February 13, 2011.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Looks Good on Paper: Masterworks and Favorites, Oct. 10, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Gifts on Paper from The Apollo Society, Apr. 10-May 31, 2015.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Degas and the Dance, October 15, 2015-January 10, 2016.

Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, Framing Fame: 19th- & 20th-century Celebrity Photography, March 4–June 4, 2017.

Comparative ReferencesSee also Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography, New York: Doubleday, 1963, pl. 85.

See also Claude Warings, Edward J. Steichen [video recording]: a Documentary, Luxembourg, Samsa Film, 1995.

See also Sheldon Cheney, ed., The Art of the Dance, New York, Theatre Arts Books, c1928, 1970.

See also Joanna Steichen, Steichen's Legacy: Photographs 1895-1973, New York, 2000.

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