"GRAHAM, MARTHA" (DON MCDONAGH).   Term Paper ID:24830 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Reviews biography of 20th Cent. Amer. dancer. Paper Introduction: The 20th century has been a period of revolution for virtually all of the arts. The classical standards of artistic expression have been studied, deconstructed and ultimately reinvented through the paintings of Pablo Picasso, Salvadore Dali, and Max Ernst, the sculpture of Constantin Brancusi, the literature of James Joyce and the music of Igor Stravinski, to name a few. With creative insight, passion and sheer artistic potency, Martha Graham earned a place among this pantheon of luminaries through her singular creation of the modern dance. In 1937, Merle Armitage compiled some of the articles written by her friends, colleagues and critics into a single volume titled Martha Graham, The Early Years. The articles, written over the first decade of her career, provide valuable insight into the contemporary perception of the importance and impact of her work. Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Furthermore, with few exceptions, thefilm industry continues to be indifferent to any dance independent of itsown productions. Graham's creativegenius was a gift that served to remind people of the primacy of thelanguage of motion. She wascriticized by those who could only interpret the dance through theclassical vocabulary of expressive motion for being pretentious, andtherefore difficult to understand, and for creating works that weremonotonous due to their lack of appreciable motifs. When the meaning of a dance is analyzed and then captured inwriting, it ceases to be dance and instead becomes a literary thing. 7-8). Graham's use of space was similar to the style seen in modern paintingand sculpture. Dance must be understood for its ability to stir the soul.It must be experienced emotionally instead of understood through theintellect. It is aprohibitively expensive medium, however, and as such is beyond the means ofmost dancers or dance companies. No standardnotation exists for dance. New York:Da Capo Press. 83-88). The 2 th century has been a period of revolution for virtually all ofthe arts. The reality of art is the truth it conveys about inner life (Graham,1937, in Armitage, 1978, PP. The fact that the significance of her work was immediatelyrecognized was a credit both to the strength of her work and to theperceptiveness of her critics. Reference Armitage, M. 2-3). Martha Graham: The early years. With creative insight, passion and sheer artistic potency,Martha Graham earned a place among this pantheon of luminaries through hersingular creation of the modern dance. The self-appointed task of the artist is to capture the ineffable and,having done so, to express it in as accessible a manner as possible to theaudience. The modern dance of Graham was rooted in an ancient and universal artform. She was accused ofabandoning the dance for the theater. The dance has been a primal form of expression practiced in allparts of the world and throughout history. The frontier that Grahamportrayed became, in fact, all physical or mental frontiers (Stokowski,1937, pp. By capturing and conveying theessence of the subject portrayed, she was able go beyond the mererepresentation of the subject to create the experience of it for theviewer. For example, inher creation titled "Frontier", Graham created an abstract but altogetherlucid scene in which the audience member was given little choice but toexplore beyond the horizons of his own mind, allowing it to unfold andexpand in a new, unexpected and invigorating way. In both herdancing and her choreography, Graham used space as a vital element ofexpression. Graham applied her remarkable skills to her art in order totranscend the ordinary. The dancer inhabits thesememories. She was hailed as a great artisticgenius, however, by those who could appreciate her contribution to thedance. It economically eliminated all extemporaneous decoration,leaving only an intense concentration of essentials to suggest meaning.The minimalist approach allowed the members of the audience to respond withtheir own esthetic sensibilities, to supply their own completion of theexperience, perhaps beyond the limitations of any explanation that theartist may have given (Martin, 1931, in Armitage, 1978, p. 13). Perhaps the most interesting portion of this volume is the twochapters by Graham wherein she presents her views on dance and art ingeneral, and on its expression of the times within which it exists. It uses movement and gesture toconvey meaning. The classical standards of artistic expression have beenstudied, deconstructed and ultimately reinvented through the paintings ofPablo Picasso, Salvadore Dali, and Max Ernst, the sculpture of ConstantinBrancusi, the literature of James Joyce and the music of Igor Stravinski,to name a few. 4). It was her ability to create poems of motion that were much largerthan the page upon which they were written that earned Graham herrecognition as a great artistic genius. Furthermore, once it has been performed, it leaves behindno artifact beyond the impression it gives to the audience. Like all great artists, her mastery of thetechnical skills particular to her idiom would, of themselves, impress theuninitiated viewer. Although many of Graham's performances were captured on film, much ofwhat we can now know of her artistry must be gathered from the writtenimpressions of those who experienced her genius. By giving them form and setting them in motion, the dancerallows these memories into the experience of the viewer in order to awakensimilar memories. The articles, writtenover the first decade of her career, provide valuable insight into thecontemporary perception of the importance and impact of her work. In 1937, Merle Armitage compiledsome of the articles written by her friends, colleagues and critics into asingle volume titled Martha Graham, The Early Years. Compared to painting, sculpture, literature and film,the dance is an ephemeral form of art. Thefunction of the dance in any time is communication. Graham's acclaim was obviously based on something more than technique,style or presentation. This demand for participation presents some insight into thenearly fanatic levels of both praise and scorn given by those viewers fromwhom participation was asked. Through this transcendence, she was able toportray the universal through the particular, thereby making the audiencefeel and understand the subject of the dance more deeply. It is not important to know what adance means. Her art, however, was more than the equivalent ofclever circus routines designed and executed to dazzle the locals. Those who say that the artist isahead of his time are behind the time. Those who wished to bepassively entertained were probably left wondering why she was so highlyregarded. Merle Armitage writes of the limitations of the dance as a means ofpreserving artistic statements, and of Graham's accomplishments withinthose limitations. (Ed.). Herefforts toward technical perfection were never ends in themselves butmerely the means through which her artistic expression could become morepowerful and articulate. It is the means through which the history and psyche of humanity isbrought into focus, thereby bringing to our understanding the vital meaningby which we must live. This presentation of essence, with no explanation, demands more thanmere passive spectatorship from the audience. The only unimaginablereaction would be indifference" (Martin, 1929, in Armitage, 1978, pp. The only means by whicha dance may be effectively recorded is through the use of film. (1978). There is no equivalent of a musical scorethrough which a dance may be reproduced by others. When one observes that many ofthe creatures found in nature, such as birds, bees, dogs and cats, usegesture to convey meaning, it becomes much easier to believe that danceprobably preceded language as a means of communication. This evocation of inner nature is the function of allart. Her dance was neithernarrative nor symbolic but rather a unique language that used the rhythm ofrelated movements, the significant movements of life, to express meaningand emotion, thereby exposing strata of memory hidden just below theconscious level (Armitage, 1937, in Armitage, 1978, pp. As the reviewer, John Martin, has stated,"It is easy to understand how one might dislike her work intensely; it isconsiderably easier to understand how one might like it with equalintensity and be stimulated and disturbed by it. in Armitage, 1978, 34-35). The responsibility ofthe dancer is to convey those essential memories that dwell in thesubconscious, or the depths of our inner nature. Through the use of understatement, the undanced parts of hercreations were not merely emptiness, but considered elements that pushedthe imagination to realize those aspects of reality that are unmanifest(Armitage, 1937, in Armitage, 1978, p. Like many of her contemporaries throughout the art world, she wassubject to a wide range of both criticism and praise for her innovativeapproach to what was then a rigidly defined, classical art form. Thegreat artist is the product of his time. Those who were willing tomake the effort, however, were generously rewarded. (Original work published 1937) If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.