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Holtzman (Howard) collection on Isadora Duncan
LSC.1729
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Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Howard Holtzman collection on Isadora Duncan
Creator:
Holtzman, Howard
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.1729
Physical Description:
188.8 linear feet
(17 boxes and 56 flat boxes)
Date (inclusive): circa 1878-1990
Abstract: Isadora Duncan
(1877-1927) was a modern dance pioneer influenced by Walt Whitman, Emerson and American
Transcendentalism. She first gained recognition and support for her work after moving to
London (1899). In 1904, she met Edward Gordon Craig, and they worked and toured together for
three years. Later, she opened a school of dance for children in Bellevue near Paris (1914),
and another in Moscow (1921). She continued to dance until her accidental death in 1927.
Howard M. Holtzman (1921-1990) was a poet, lawyer and collector. His interest in Isadora Duncan began when he read her memoirs and sought to explore and document the influence of her artistic expression on the history of art. Recognizing the role that certain relationships, both personal and artistic, came to play in shaping her artistic development, Holtzman collected materials that reflect others' influences on Isadora, documented the impressions of many people who had seen her perform, and acquired the Edward Gordon Craig material in this collection.
The collection consists of Isadora Duncan's business and personal papers, primary writings, and material about her. There are also materials by and about Edward Gordon Craig, Raymond Duncan, and Ellen Terry. Materials include dance programs, business correspondence, writings by Isadora Duncan, photographs, objets d'art created by her brother Raymond, research materials compiled by her biographer, Allan Ross Macdougall and collector Howard Holtzman, correspondence between Howard Holtzman and Irma Duncan, and programs and photographs of other dancers who influenced or were influenced by Isadora Duncan.
Howard M. Holtzman (1921-1990) was a poet, lawyer and collector. His interest in Isadora Duncan began when he read her memoirs and sought to explore and document the influence of her artistic expression on the history of art. Recognizing the role that certain relationships, both personal and artistic, came to play in shaping her artistic development, Holtzman collected materials that reflect others' influences on Isadora, documented the impressions of many people who had seen her perform, and acquired the Edward Gordon Craig material in this collection.
The collection consists of Isadora Duncan's business and personal papers, primary writings, and material about her. There are also materials by and about Edward Gordon Craig, Raymond Duncan, and Ellen Terry. Materials include dance programs, business correspondence, writings by Isadora Duncan, photographs, objets d'art created by her brother Raymond, research materials compiled by her biographer, Allan Ross Macdougall and collector Howard Holtzman, correspondence between Howard Holtzman and Irma Duncan, and programs and photographs of other dancers who influenced or were influenced by Isadora Duncan.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access
special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on
this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in
advance using the request button located on this page.
Property rights to the objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other
rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the
responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not
hold the copyright.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
CONTAINS AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS: This collection contains processed audiovisual materials.
All requests to access digital materials must be made in advance using the request button
located on this page.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Golden Legend, Inc., 2006.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
9953438123606533
[Identification of item], Howard Holtzman Collection on Isadora Duncan (Collection 1729).
UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of
California, Los Angeles.
Processed by Genie Guerard and Lilace Hatayama, October 2006.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make
them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and
resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level
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more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to
national and local standards and best practices.
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in Library Special Collections.
Howard M. Holtzman (1921-1990) was a poet, lawyer and collector. His interest in Isadora
Duncan began when he read her memoirs and sought to explore and document the influence of
her artistic expression on the history of art. For the next 32 years, he collected materials
by and about Isadora Duncan. Recognizing the role that certain relationships, both personal
and artistic, came to play in shaping her artistic development, Holtzman acquired the Edward
Gordon Craig material in this collection. For the performing arts, the transition from the
19th to the 20th century was a change from the pictorial and romantic to a more
architectural and impressionistic framework. Craig's work in the theatre and Duncan's in
dance promoted these developments, and their collaborative works were considered
revolutionary. Ellen Terry, Craig's mother and a famous Shakespearean actress, was a model
for both of them as her artistic interests incorporated theatre, dance, music, and the
visual arts and architecture. Holtzman conducted extensive research and collected materials
that reflect others' influences on Isadora, and documented the impressions of many people
who had seen her perform.
Born Mary Dora Duncan on May 26, 1877 in San Francisco, Isadora Duncan lived with her
mother, sister Elizabeth and brothers Augustine and Raymond in Oakland, California, where
she began to teach dance at the age of eleven. Her mother introduced her to Dickens,
Shakespeare and Greek mythology, and played works by Chopin and Schubert on the piano. She
and her siblings spent many hours at home in the evenings, and sometimes at salons organized
by her mother, where they recited from literature and danced. Her mother also read to the
children from "free thinker" Robert Ingersoll, who rejected institutionalized religion. In
developing her own form of art, Isadora Duncan was influenced by Walt Whitman, Emerson and
American Transcendentalism, believing that dance movement should be motivated from within,
based on a spiritual understanding of nature. Isadora and her family moved to Chicago in
1896, New York and then London in 1899, where she gained recognition and her work was
supported by society patrons, artists and intellectuals. In Berlin in 1904 she met Edward
Gordon Craig, with whom she fell in love. She and Craig worked and toured together for three
years in Germany, Russia, Poland and Sweden. She opened a school of dance for children in
Bellevue near Paris in 1914, and another in Moscow in 1921, and adopted several of her
students, who peformed as "The Isadorables" and "The Isadora Duncan Dancers of Moscow."
Isadora Duncan married twice, to Paris Singer in 1909 and Serge Essenin in 1922. She had two
children, a daughter with Edward Gordon Craig (Deirdre) and a son (Patrick) with Singer.
Both were drowned in a car that accidentally rolled into the Seine in 1913. She continued to
dance until 1927. While riding in a Bugati, a scarf tied around her neck caught in the
wheel, causing her death in Nice, France, on September 14, 1927.
Collection consists of original works of art by many famous artists contemporary to modern
dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, including drawings and sculptures depicting her in
performances and rehearsals; dance programs and business correspondence documenting her
tours in Germany, Russia and Poland from 1904-1907 when Edward Gordon Craig was her manager;
writings by Isadora Duncan, including a prospectus for her dance school; and original
photographs and photographic reproductions in clippings of Isadora Duncan, her students, her
sister Irma, Edward Gordon Craig, Ellen Terry, and Serghie'i Essenin. It also includes
materials about Isadora Duncan, such as graphic works by Edward Gordon Craig, programs and
objets d'art created by her brother Raymond, and the research materials of her biographer,
Allan Ross Macdougall. There are also articles and citations about Isadora Duncan compiled
by collector Howard Holtzman, and correspondence between Howard Holtzman and Irma Duncan.
Primary sources about Duncan's personal life and works include Edward Gordon Craig's diary
from 1943-1947 and a letter to his mother Ellen Terry, along with interviews about Duncan by
Craig, Ruth St. Denis, Hedwig Reicher and childhood friend Cornelia Lysight. There are also
materials by and about Edward Gordon Craig, Ellen Terry, and programs and photographs of
other dancers who influenced or were influenced by Isadora Duncan.
Arranged in five series, one of which has been further arranged in subseries. Contracts,
telegrams and articles about Isadora Duncan are arranged chronologically. Works of art are
organized by artist. The series and subseries arrangement is as follows:
- Isadora Duncan
- Business papers
- Personal papers
- Primary writings about Isadora Duncan
- Material about Isadora Duncan
- Material by and about Edward Gordon Craig
- Material by and about Raymond Duncan
- Material by and about Ellen Terry
- Material about other dancers
Edward Gordon Craig papers (Collection 1006)
. Available at the UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Dame Ellen Terry papers (Collection 643)
. Available at the UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research
Library, University of California, Los Angeles.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital reproductions of audiovisual materials are available for viewing in the Library
Special Collections reading room.
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online:
Howard
Holtzman Collection on Isadora Duncan (112 items)
.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Works of art.
Dancers -- Archives.
Duncan, Isadora
Duncan, Isadora, 1877-1927--Archives.
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Conditions Governing Access
- Conditions Governing Use
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
- Provenance/Source of Acquisition
- UCLA Catalog Record ID
- Preferred Citation
- Processing Note
- Biography
- Scope and Content
- Organization and Arrangement
- Related Material
- Existence and Location of Copies
- Online Items Available