Martha Graham, "Letter to the World" (Kick)

Images(2)

Martha Graham, "Letter to the World" (Kick)

Artist Barbara Morgan American, 1900–1992

Date1940, printed 1970s

MediumGelatin-silver print

Dimensionsimage: 9 7/8 × 12 15/16 in. (25.1 × 32.9 cm)
frame: 15 9/16 × 18 7/16 × 3/4 in. (39.5 × 46.9 × 1.9 cm)

ClassificationsPhotography

Credit LineGift of Richard and Lois Zakia

Object number2001.6.3

On View

Not on view

Label TextIn 1935 Barbara Morgan met modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and the two maintained a close kinship for life. Morgan’s first photobook, Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs, features this image, where the artist depicts Graham as the voice of American poet Emily Dickinson.
Morgan captured the movement of Graham’s skirt in such a way that the arch of the skirt extends off the canvas to suggest further motion. This image compresses a feeling of inner turmoil into a singular movement. Graham defined movement as the “condensation of strong feeling,” and Morgan sought to resist the confinement of the static photographic medium.
[J. Dasal, 2022]ProvenanceCreated New York, 1940, printed 1970s; collection of the artist. Richard and Lois Zakia, Apex, NC; given to NCMA, 2001.
Published ReferencesJohn Coffey, "New Acquisitions: Life Forces of Rhythmic Vitality," Preview: The Magazine of the North Carolina Museum of Art (March/April 2002), mentioned 9, illus. (b-w) 8.

Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Human/Nature,” October 15, 2016–February 26, 2017.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) makes images of its collection available online to support research and scholarship and to inform and educate the public. Certain works of art, as well as the photographs of those works of art, may be protected by copyright, trademark, or related interests not owned by the NCMA. The responsibility for ascertaining whether any such rights exist and for obtaining all other necessary permissions remains with the applicant. To request images and/or permissions from the NCMA, please complete our online request form.