Isadora Duncan
c. 1930s
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View on museum website →Medium
pen and black ink over graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
sheet: 35.56 × 21.59 cm (14 × 8 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of William H. G. FitzGerald, Desmond FitzGerald, and B. Francis Saul II)
Accession Number
2015.19.2767
Art Historical Context
Abraham Walkowitz's *Isadora Duncan* (c. 1930s) is a captivating ink drawing that honors the legendary modern dancer Isadora Duncan, whose free-spirited performances revolutionized dance in the early 20th century.owitz, an American modernist artist, was mesmerized by Duncan's dynamic energy after witnessing her dance; he created thousands of sketches inspired by her, distilling her fluid movements into expressive lines. This intimate work on wove paper, measuring 14 × 8½ inches, exemplifies his lifelong fascination, executed from memory years after Duncan's tragic death in 1927. Rendered in p...
About the Artist
Abraham Walkowitz
Abraham Walkowitz (1878–1965) was a Russian-born American artist who became one of the pioneering figures of modernist abstraction in the United States during the early twentieth century. Born in Tyumen, Siberia, he emigrated to New York as a child and later studied at the National Academy of Design. A transformative period in Paris around 1906–1907 exposed him to the Fauves, Cézanne, and the emer...