Abraham Walkowitz
Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan
Isadora Duncan
ArtistAmerican, born Russia, 1878–1965
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Isadora Duncan
Datec. 1920
MediumWatercolor and ink on cream wove paper
DimensionsSheet: 8 7/8 x 5 1/8 in. (22.5 x 13 cm)
Frame: 14 3/4 × 12 1/4 in. (37.5 × 31.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Alice C. Simkins Collection, gift of Alice C. Simkins and museum purchase funded by Alison de Lima Greene
Object number2016.317
Non exposé

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Description

Abraham Walkowitz produced some five thousand drawings of Isadora Duncan over a period of twenty years. He explained, “She was a Muse. She had no laws. She didn’t dance according to rules. She created. Her body was music.”

Typical of Walkowitz’s on-going series, "Isadora Duncan" captures the essence of the dancer’s strong physical presence and the grace of her flowing drapery with a few essential marks. When Duncan saw an exhibition of this series in 1916, she remarked: “Walkowitz, you have written my biography in lines without words.”


ProvenanceThe artist; […]; [Zabriskie Gallery, New York]; The Alice C. Simkins Collection, San Antonio, November 6, 1992; to MFAH, 2016
Exhibition History"Collectors’ Gallery XXVI," Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX, November 8–December 24, 1992.

“American Modern: Works from the Collection of Alice C. Simkins,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 15–July 19, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Signed in ink, bottom right corner: A. Walkowitz [cursive]
Verso: [inaccessible]
Recto: Signed in ink, bottom right corner: A. Walkowitz [cursive]
Verso: [inaccessible]
Recto: [none]
Verso: [inaccessible]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Abstraction
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