Isadora Duncan

Margaretta Mitchell, Dance for Life: Isadora Duncan and Her California Dance Legacy at the Temple of Wings (Berkeley, Calif.: Elysian Editions, 1985). Copy 23 of 50. Rare Books: Theatre Collection (ThX) Oversize GV1785.D8 M57f

 

This limited edition portfolio includes an illustrated essay along with twelve photogravures of dancers inspired by and preserving the legacy of Isadora Duncan (1878-1927). Highlighted is the 1985 Oakland Museum exhibit “Dance For Life: The Bay Area Legacy of Isadora Duncan.” Mitchell’s negative were transferred to copper plates and printed by Jon Goodman in Massachusetts (see also https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2015/04/09/).

Over many years, Mitchell photographed “women and children dancing in the style of Isadora Duncan at Berkeley’s Temple of Wings. Duncan’s influence is apparent in the flowing costume, the classical open-air setting and the graceful, expressive gestures.

Dance teacher Sulgwynn Boynton Quitzow is the daughter of Duncan’s childhood friend, Florence Treadwell Boynton who shared Duncan’s vision of life lived in harmony with nature and who dedicated the Temple of Wings in 1914 to the ‘democracy and freedom of women.’”

 

 

See also: Dorothea Lange, To a cabin [by] Dorothea Lange [and] Margaretta K. Mitchell (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973). Marquand Library TR654 .L26 1973. Photography of children.