Modern Dance Pioneer Remembered

Martha Graham, born on this day in 1884, influenced the world of modern dance, as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and costume designer.

Graham created more than 180 works, from solos to large-scale dances, during her career. Her works explored the spiritual and emotional inner self of man and often drew upon literary works for inspiration. Her collaborations with the Japanese-American sculptor and designer, Isamu Noguchi, were groundbreaking, because three-dimensional sculpture and set pieces replaced painted backdrops and formed interesting spaces in which the dancers moved.

Believing that sculpture should be "an equivalent for natural forms and forces," Isamu Noguchi explored the sun's vital power in this massive marble. He derived its shape from a millstone which, "inverted and elevated, becomes a sun-like image."

Source: National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and Boston, New York, Toronto, and London: National Museum of American Art with Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Company, 1995).

Pictured: Isamu Noguchi, 1904–88, Grey Sun, 1967, Arni marble, 40 7/8 x 39 1/2 x 16 7/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.