Barbara Morgan (American, 1900 – 1992)
Martha Graham, Lamentation (Oblique), 1935
Gelatin silver print
19.5 X 15.5 in.
Gift of Martin Blumenthal
Martha Graham was a pioneer maker and is accredited to establishing the foundation of Modern Dance. With a deep value of communicating the human experience through the physical body and a sharp attention to clarity in movement, the Graham technique was developed in 1926 for dancers to train and perfect their craft. Captured above is a moment from one of Graham’s most renowned works, Lamentation. Graham expresses grief and pain, laments, as she torques, contracts, and articulates movement through her body. The tubelike costume wrapped around Graham disguises her physical body, yet allows her movement to create angular lines and shapes within the material. In a moment of stillness, of silent reflection, Graham sits, curled over her hands, encircled by the material surrounding her. Her downward gaze works in company with her contracted body positioning to suggest a state of solitude; she appears entangled with her own thoughts and emotions. The monochromatic nature of the image intensifies her aloneness. Her partially illuminated face and body dramatizes the looming vulnerability and pain that lives within the domain of grief and sorrow.
I have studied Modern Dance for many years, and am quite familiar with Lamentation. As I look at this image, I can imagine the movement that coincides with the particular moment, understanding Graham’s curled and contracted position both visually and physically in my own body. Knowing Graham’s desire to authentically communicate the experience of living, I can visualize and engage with the expression her movement seeks to portray. This image captures the essence of Lamentation.
Barbara Morgan is an American photographer, born in 1900, and received formal training in printmaking and painting at the University of California, Los Angeles. Upon arriving in New York City in the 1930s, Morgan began to specialize in photography and established herself as a leading photographer of Modern Dance. Morgan and Graham collaborated to produce a collection of photos titled Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photos in 1941, in which this image is included. The two artists worked together to capture “the most profound and the most crucial moment of the dance” as well as “the emotion of the movement” (“Barbara Morgan”, Museum of Contemporary Photography). Morgan is one of many leading modern artists who studied at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. The Barbara Morgan estate is represented by the Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York, New York.
Members of the Davidson community can view this work on display in the Harry L. Vance Athletic Center, outside the dance studios.
Anna Murray ’23
“Barbara Morgan, American Photographer .” Museum of Contemporary Photography, www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects.